Cyclin F, a cyclin that can form SCF complexes and bind to cyclin B, oscillates in the cell cycle with a pattern similar to cyclin A and cyclin B. Ectopic expression of cyclin F arrests the cell cycle in G 2 /M. How the level of cyclin F is regulated during the cell cycle is completely obscure. Here we show that, similar to cyclin A, cyclin F is degraded when the spindle assembly checkpoint is activated and accumulates when the DNA damage checkpoint is activated. Cyclin F is a very unstable protein throughout much of the cell cycle. Unlike other cyclins, degradation of cyclin F is independent of ubiquitination and proteasome-mediated pathways. Interestingly, proteolysis of cyclin F is likely to involve metalloproteases. Rapid destruction of cyclin F does not require the N-terminal F-box motif but requires the COOH-terminal PEST sequences. The PEST region alone is sufficient to interfere with the degradation of cyclin F and confer instability when fused to cyclin A. These data show that although cyclin F is degraded at similar time as the mitotic cyclins, the underlying mechanisms are entirely distinct.Cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) 1 are key regulators of the eukaryotic cell cycle. In mammalian cells, different cyclin-CDK complexes are involved in regulating different cell cycle transitions: cyclin D-CDK4/6 for G 1 progression, cyclin E-CDK2 for the G 1 -S transition, cyclin A-CDK2 for S phase progression, and cyclin A/B-CDC2 for entry into M phase (1). Apart from these well known roles in the cell cycle, several cyclins and CDKs are involved in processes not directly related to the cell cycle. Cyclin D can bind and activate the estrogen receptor, and CDK5 is activated in postmitotic neurons by p35. The cyclin H-CDK7 complex is a component of both the CDKactivating kinase and the basal transcription factor TFIIH and can phosphorylate CDKs and the carboxyl-terminal repeat domain of the large subunit of RNA polymerase II, respectively.