Endocycles are variant cell cycles comprised of DNA Synthesis (S)- and Gap (G)- phases but lacking mitosis1,2. Such cycles facilitate post-mitotic growth in many invertebrate and plant cells, and are so ubiquitous that they may account for up to half the world’s biomass3,4. DNA replication in endocycling Drosophila cells is triggered by Cyclin E/Cyclin Dependent Kinase 2 (CycE/Cdk2), but this kinase must be inactivated during each G-phase to allow the assembly of pre-Replication Complexes (preRCs) for the next S-phase5,6. How CycE/Cdk2 is periodically silenced to allow re-replication has not been established. Here, using genetic tests in parallel with computational modeling, we show that Drosophila’s endocycles are driven by a molecular oscillator in which the E2F1 transcription factor promotes CycE expression and S-phase initiation, S-phase then activates the CRL4Cdt2 ubiquitin ligase, and this in turn mediates the destruction of E2F17. We propose that it is the transient loss of E2F1 during S-phases that creates the window of low Cdk activity required for preRC formation. In support of this model over-expressed E2F1 accelerated endocycling, whereas a stabilized variant of E2F1 blocked endocycling by de-regulating target genes including CycE, as well as Cdk1 and mitotic Cyclins. Moreover, we find that altering cell growth by changing nutrition or TOR signaling impacts E2F1 translation, thereby making endocycle progression growth-dependent. Many of the regulatory interactions essential to this novel cell cycle oscillator are conserved in animals and plants1,2,8, suggesting that elements of this mechanism act in most growth-dependent cell cycles.
Endoreplicating cells undergo multiple rounds of DNA replication leading to polyploidy or polyteny. Oscillation of Cyclin E (CycE)-dependent kinase activity is the main driving force in Drosophila endocycles. High levels of CycE-Cdk2 activity trigger S phase, while down-regulation of CycE-Cdk2 activity is crucial to allow licensing of replication origins. In mitotic cells relicensing in S phase is prevented by Geminin. Here we show that Geminin protein oscillates in endoreplicating salivary glands of Drosophila. Geminin levels are high in S phase, but drop once DNA replication has been completed. DNA licensing is coupled to mitosis through the action of the anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C). We demonstrate that, even though endoreplicating cells never enter mitosis, APC/C activity is required in endoreplicating cells to mediate Geminin oscillation. Down-regulation of APC/C activity results in stabilization of Geminin protein and blocks endocycle progression. Geminin is only abundant in cells with high CycE-Cdk2 activity, suggesting that APC/C-Fzr activity is periodically inhibited by CycE-Cdk2, to prevent relicensing in S-phase cells.[Keywords: Anaphase-promoting complex; cell cycle; DNA licensing; Drosophila; endoreplication] Supplemental material is available at http://www.genesdev.org. The precise duplication of the genome is crucial for the survival of any organism. In multicellular organisms genome instability potentially gives rise to cancer and thus compromises the life of the whole organism. To maintain the integrity of the genome, DNA replication, and mitosis must be coordinated during cell division cycles so that DNA replication occurs only once per cycle and mitosis only after complete duplication of the genome. To avoid rereplication events, a network of proteins ensures that cells acquire the license for DNA replication only in a specific phase of the cell cycle. DNA licensing involves the formation of prereplication complexes (pre-RC), which can only assemble during late mitosis and G1 (for review, see Bell and Dutta 2002;Blow and Dutta 2005). Pre-RC assembly on replication origins involves a variety of conserved components including the ORC1-6 complex, Cdc6, Cdt1/Double-parked, and the MCM2-7 helicase. Once MCM2-7 proteins are loaded onto the DNA, licensing is completed and the replication origins are ready for firing (for review, see Bell and Dutta 2002;Blow and Dutta 2005).Several mechanisms ensure that replication origins are fired only once during a cell cycle (for review, see Machida et al. 2005). Of particular importance is the temporal separation of pre-RC formation and origin firing. Pre-RC assembly occurs only in G1 because it depends on low Cdk activity while high Cdk activity is required for origin firing. The increase in Cdk activity at the G1-S transition does not only trigger origin firing, but at the same time also results in phosphorylation of several pre-RC components (ORC, Cdc6, Cdt1,. These modifications are thought to prevent reassembly of these components into pre-R...
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) represent an abundant class of non-coding RNAs that negatively regulate gene expression, primarily at the post-transcriptional level. miRNA genes are frequently located in proximity to fragile chromosomal sites associated with cancers and amplification of a miRNA cluster has been correlated with the etiology of lymphomas and solid tumors. The oncogenic potential of a miRNA polycistron has recently been demonstrated in vivo. Here, we show that misexpression of the Drosophila miRNA mirvana/mir-278 in the developing eye causes massive overgrowth, in part due to inhibition of apoptosis. A single base substitution affecting the mature miRNA blocks the gain-of-function phenotype but is not associated with a detectable reduction-of-function phenotype when homozygous. This result demonstrates that misexpressed miRNAs may acquire novel functions that cause unscheduled proliferation in vivo and thus exemplifies the potential of miRNAs to promote tumor formation.
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