The human CCGI gene complements tsBN462, a temperature-sensitive G1 mutant of the BHK21 cell line. The previously cloned cDNA turned out to be a truncated form of the actual CCGI cDNA. The newly cloned CCGI cDNA was 6.0 kb and encoded a protein with a molecular mass of 210 kDa. Using an antibody to a predicted peptide from the CCG1 protein, a protein with a molecular mass of over 200 kDa was identified in human, monkey, and hamster cell lines. In the newly defined C-terminal region, an acidic domain was found. It contained four consensus target sequences for casein kinase II and was phosphorylated by this enzyme in vitro. However, this C-terminal region was not required to complement tsBN462 mutation since the region encoding the C-terminal part was frequently missing in complemented clones derived by DNA-mediated gene transfer. CCG1 contains a sequence similar to the putative DNA-binding domain of HMG1 in addition to the previously detected amino acid sequences common in nuclear proteins, such as a proline cluster and a nuclear translocation signal. Consistent with these predictions, CCG1 was present in nuclei, possessed DNA-binding activity, and was eluted with similar concentrations of salt, 0.3 to 0.4 M NaCl either from isolated nuclei or from a DNA-cellulose column.The cell cycle of eucaryotic cells is composed of the consecutive phases Gl, S, G2, and M. In the G, phase, depending on the stimulus of growth factors, protein and RNA molecules are produced and the new cell cycle initiates (25). Unresolved problems concerning the start of the cell cycle include how the stimulus of external growth factors reaches the nucleus and how cells recognize the accumulation of materials required to enter the new cell cycle. To investigate the initiation of the cell cycle at the molecular level, it is essential to identify the genes involved. In both budding and fission yeasts, various temperature-sensitive (ts) mutants defective in the progression of the cell cycle have been isolated and have proven to be most useful for identifying the genes required for cell cycle progression (12,22). Various ts+ cell cycle mutants have also been isolated from cultured animal cells (3). The FT210 cell line, a ts G2 mutant of FM3A, has a ts cdc2 gene product; thus, the cdc2 gene is apparently essential for the cell cycle of animal cells (36).We isolated ts cell cycle mutants from the BHK21 cell line derived from the Syrian hamster and then classified them into complementation groups (21). One of these ts mutants, tsBN462, has a defect in progression of the G1 phase, which is that after release from the G, block, it is unable to enter the S phase at a nonpermissive temperature. But once it enters the S phase, DNA replication progresses normally. By using this mutant as the recipient of the DNA-mediated gene transfer, a human gene located between qll and q13 on the X chromosome has been cloned and designated the cell cycle gene 1 (CCGI) (5,31,32). Its cDNA complements tsi3 in addition to tsBN462, both of which were independently isolated ...