Figure 2.

Molecular model of the control of CDK activities during the budding yeast cell cycle. We lump together redundant cyclins (Cln1 + Cln2 = “Cln2,” Clb1 + Clb2 = “Clb2,” and Clb5 + Clb6 = “Clb5”) and ignore Clb3 and Clb4. (Notice that we do not draw the kinase subunit, Cdc28, that is associated with each cyclin, because we assume it is in excess.) At the beginning of the cycle, the cell has few cyclin molecules, because the transcription factors (SBF, MBF, and Mcm1) that regulate cyclin synthesis are inactive. Clb-dependent kinases, in addition, are suppressed by a stoichiometric inhibitor (Sic1) and by efficient proteolysis of cyclin subunits. Cln3/Cdc28, which is present at low and nearly constant activity throughout the cycle, triggers a sequence of events leading ultimately to cell division. The sequence can be read from left to right. When the cell grows to a sufficiently large size, Cln3/Cdc28 and Bck2 activate SBF and MBF (by phosphorylation, so we assume), causing Cln2 and Clb5 to begin to accumulate. At first, Clb5 accumulates in inactive trimers, Clb5/Cdc28/Sic1, but Cln2/Cdc28 is not so inhibited. Rising Cln2/Cdc28 activity plays three important roles. First, it initiates bud formation. Second, it phosphorylates Sic1, priming the inhibitor for ubiquitination by SCF and ultimate degradation by the proteasome. Third, it inactivates Hct1, which, in conjunction with APC, was responsible for Clb2 degradation in G1 phase. When Sic1 is destroyed, Clb5/Cdc28 activity rises abruptly and drives the cell into S phase. These are the major physiological events associated with the Start transition. With Sic1 gone and Hct1 inactivated, Clb2-dependent kinase can begin to rise, with some lag, because Clb2/Cdc28 activates its own transcription factor, Mcm1. In addition, Clb2/Cdc28 inactivates SBF, so Cln2-dependent kinase activity begins to fall as Cln2 synthesis shuts off. At about the same time, MBF is inactivated, and the Clb5 level starts to fall. Rising Clb2/Cdc28 activity induces progress through mitosis. The metaphase–anaphase transition is regulated by a pair of proteins, Cdc20 and Hct1, that target substrates to the APC for ubiquitination. At metaphase, they are inactive, but when DNA is fully replicated and all chromosomes are aligned on the metaphase plate, Cdc20 is activated. Indirectly Cdc20 promotes 1) dissociation of sister chromatids (anaphase A), 2) activation of Hct1, which conducts Clb2 to the APC, thereby initiating anaphase B and cell separation, and 3) activation of Swi5, the transcription factor for Sic1. With all CDK activity gone (except for a little associated with Cln3), Sic1 can make a comeback, and the cell returns to G1.