Hermann Staudinger Lecture with Nobel Laureate Paul Nurse

“Controlling the Cell Cycle”
Both S-phase and mitosis are common to all cell cycles and both are necessary for the two newly divided cells to receive a full complement of genes.  In fission yeast the onset of S-phase and mitosis can be controlled by a single cyclin dependent kinase with different levels of CDK activity bringing about progression through the cell cycle in an orderly fashion.  Using phosphoproteomics we show that a low CDK activity is sufficient to bring about S-phase whilst a high activity blocks a further S-phase and is needed for onset of mitosis.  A G2 cell can be programmed to undergo either S-phase or mitosis simply by modifying CDK activity indicating there is no inherent direction in the cell cycle.