SummaryIn the quantitative model of cell-cycle control, progression from G1 through S phase and into mitosis is ordered by thresholds of increasing cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) activity. How such thresholds are read out by substrates that respond with the correct phosphorylation timing is not known. Here, using the budding yeast model, we show that the abundant PP2ACdc55 phosphatase counteracts Cdk phosphorylation during interphase and delays phosphorylation of late Cdk substrates. PP2ACdc55 specifically counteracts phosphorylation on threonine residues, and consequently, we find that threonine-directed phosphorylation occurs late in the cell cycle. Furthermore, the late phosphorylation of a model substrate, Ndd1, depends on threonine identity of its Cdk target sites. Our results support a model in which Cdk-counteracting phosphatases contribute to cell-cycle ordering by imposing Cdk thresholds. They also unveil a regulatory principle based on the phosphoacceptor amino acid, which is likely to apply to signaling pathways beyond cell-cycle control.

Cell cycle control is modified at meiosis compared to mitosis, because two divisions follow a single DNA replication event. Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) promote progression through both meiosis and mitosis, and a central regulator of their activity is the APC/C (Anaphase Promoting Complex/Cyclosome) that is especially required for exit from mitosis. We have shown previously that OSD1 is involved in entry into both meiosis I and meiosis II in Arabidopsis thaliana; however, the molecular mechanism by which OSD1 controls these transitions has remained unclear. Here we show that OSD1 promotes meiotic progression through APC/C inhibition. Next, we explored the functional relationships between OSD1 and the genes known to control meiotic cell cycle transitions in Arabidopsis. Like osd1, cyca1;2/tam mutation leads to a premature exit from meiosis after the first division, while tdm mutants perform an aberrant third meiotic division after normal meiosis I and II. Remarkably, while tdm is epistatic to tam, osd1 is epistatic to tdm. We further show that the expression of a non-destructible CYCA1;2/TAM provokes, like tdm, the entry into a third meiotic division. Finally, we show that CYCA1;2/TAM forms an active complex with CDKA;1 that can phosphorylate OSD1 in vitro. We thus propose that a functional network composed of OSD1, CYCA1;2/TAM, and TDM controls three key steps of meiotic progression, in which OSD1 is a meiotic APC/C inhibitor.