Posttranslational Control of Cdc25 Degradation Terminates Drosophilaas Early Cell-Cycle Program

In most metazoans, early embryonic development is characterized by rapid mitotic divisions that are controlled by maternal mRNAs and proteins that accumulate during oogenesis [1]. These rapid divisions pause at the midblastula transition (MBT), coinciding with a dramatic increase in gene transcripti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current biology 2013-01, Vol.23 (2), p.127-132
Main Authors: Di Talia, Stefano, She, Richard, Blythe, Shelby A, Lu, Xuemin, Zhang, Qi Fan, Wieschaus, Eric F
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Drosophila
Metazoa
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Summary:In most metazoans, early embryonic development is characterized by rapid mitotic divisions that are controlled by maternal mRNAs and proteins that accumulate during oogenesis [1]. These rapid divisions pause at the midblastula transition (MBT), coinciding with a dramatic increase in gene transcription and the degradation of a subset of maternal mRNAs [2, 3]. In Drosophila, the cell-cycle pause is controlled by inhibitory phosphorylation of Cdk1, which in turn is driven by downregulation of the activating Cdc25 phosphatases [4, 5]. Here, we show that the two Drosophila Cdc25 homologs, String and Twine, differ in their dynamics and that, contrary to current models [4], their downregulations are not controlled by mRNA degradation but through different posttranslational mechanisms. The degradation rate of String protein gradually increases during the late syncytial cycles in a manner dependent on the nuclear-to-cytoplasmic ratio and on the DNA replication checkpoints. Twine, on the other hand, is targeted for degradation at the onset of the MBT through a switch-like mechanism controlled, like String, by the nuclear-to-cytoplasmic ratio, but not requiring the DNA replication checkpoints. We demonstrate that posttranslational control of Twine degradation ensures that the proper number of mitoses precede the MBT.
ISSN:0960-9822