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A Sveiczer

Publications and source records attributed to A Sveiczer.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

Regularities and irregularities in the cell cycle of the fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe (a review).

In an exponentially growing wild-type fission yeast culture a size control mechanism ensures that mitosis is executed only if the cells have reached a critical size. However, there is some scattering both in cell length at birth (BL) and in cycle time (CT). By computational simulations we show here that this scattering cannot be explained solely by asymmetric cell division, therefore we assume that nuclear division is a stochastic, asymmetric process as well. We introduce an appropriate stochastic variable into a mathematical model and prove that this assumption is suitable to describe the CT vs. BL graph in a wild-type fission yeast population. In a double mutant of fission yeast (namely wee1-50 cdc25 delta) this CT vs. BL plot is even more curious: cycle time splits into three different values resulting in three clusters in this coordinate system. We show here that it is possible to describe these quantized cycles by choosing the appropriate values of the key parameters of mitotic entry and exit and even more the clustered behavior may be simulated by applying a further stochastic parameter.

Cell Cycle↗

A stochastic, molecular model of the fission yeast cell cycle: role of the nucleocytoplasmic ratio in cycle time regulation.

We propose a stochastic version of a recently published, deterministic model of the molecular mechanism regulating the mitotic cell cycle of fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Stochasticity is introduced in two ways: (i) by considering the known asymmetry of cell division, which produces daughter cells of slightly different sizes; and (ii) by assuming that the nuclear volumes of the two newborn cells may also differ. In this model, the accumulation of cyclins in the nucleus is proportional to the ratio of cytoplasmic to nuclear volumes. We have simulated the cell-cycle statistics of populations of wild-type cells and of wee1(-) mutant cells. Our results are consistent with well known experimental observations.

Algorithms↗

Modeling the fission yeast cell cycle: quantized cycle times in wee1- cdc25Delta mutant cells.

A detailed mathematical model for the fission yeast mitotic cycle is developed based on positive and negative feedback loops by which Cdc13/Cdc2 kinase activates and inactivates itself. Positive feedbacks are created by Cdc13/Cdc2-dependent phosphorylation of specific substrates: inactivating its negative regulators (Rum1, Ste9 and Wee1/Mik1) and activating its positive regulator (Cdc25). A slow negative feedback loop is turned on during mitosis by activation of Slp1/anaphase-promoting complex (APC), which indirectly re-activates the negative regulators, leading to a drop in Cdc13/Cdc2 activity and exit from mitosis. The model explains how fission yeast cells can exit mitosis in the absence of Ste9 (Cdc13 degradation) and Rum1 (an inhibitor of Cdc13/Cdc2). We also show that, if the positive feedback loops accelerating the G(2)/M transition (through Wee1 and Cdc25) are weak, then cells can reset back to G(2) from early stages of mitosis by premature activation of the negative feedback loop. This resetting can happen more than once, resulting in a quantized distribution of cycle times, as observed experimentally in wee1(-) cdc25Delta mutant cells. Our quantitative description of these quantized cycles demonstrates the utility of mathematical modeling, because these cycles cannot be understood by intuitive arguments alone.

CDC2 Protein Kinase↗

Mitotic control in the absence of cdc25 mitotic inducer in fission yeast.

Fission yeast cells tolerate the total absence of the cdc25 mitotic inducer in two cases, either in cdc2-3w or in wee1 genetic backgrounds. In the cdc2-3w cdc25Delta double mutant, the rate-limiting step leading to mitosis is reaching a critical size. However, the size control of this mutant operates in late G2, which is different from wild-type (WT) cells. This fact suggests that in WT the rate-limiting molecular process during the G2 timer is the Tyr15 dephosphorylation of cdc2, for which the cdc25 phosphatase (together with its back-up, pyp3) is dependent. In the wee1-50 cdc25Delta mutant, the population splits into different clusters, all lacking mitotic size control. This strain maintains size homeostasis by a novel method, which is random movement of the cells from one cluster to another in the successive generations. These cells should normally have a 'minimal cycle', a 'timer' with short G1 and G2 phases. However, very often the cells abort mitosis, possibly at an early event and return back to early G2, thus lengthening their cycles. The inability of these cells to start anaphase might be caused by the absence of the main mitotic regulators (wee1 and cdc25) and the improper regulation of their back-up copies (mik1 and pyp3, respectively).

Cell Cycle Proteins↗

The size control of fission yeast revisited.

An analysis was made of cell length and cycle time in time-lapse films of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe using wild-type (WT) cells and those of various mutants. The more important conclusions about 'size controls' are: (1) there is a marker in G2 in WT cells provided by a rate change point (RCP) where the linear rate of length growth increases by approximately 30%. The period before this RCP is dependent on size and can be called a 'sizer'. The period after the RCP is nearly independent of size and can be called a 'timer'. The achievement of a critical threshold size is at or near the RCP which is on average at about 0.3 of the cycle (halfway through G2). This is much earlier than was previously believed. (2) The RCP is at about the time when H1 histone kinase activity and the B type cyclin cdc13 start to rise in preparation for mitosis. The RCP is also associated with other metabolic changes. (3) In wee1 mutants, the mitotic size control is replaced by a G1/S size control which is as strong as the mitotic control. As in WT cells, there is a sizer which precedes the RCP followed by a timer but the RCP is at about the G1/S boundary and has a larger increase (approximately 100%) in rate. (4) cdc25 is not an essential part of the size control at mitosis or at the G1/S boundary. (5) Three further situations have been examined in which the mitotic size control has been abolished. First, induction synchronisation by block and release of cdc2 and cdc10. In the largest oversize-cells which are produced, the RCP is pushed back to the beginning of the cycle. There is no sizer period but only a timer. Second, when both the antagonists wee1 and cdc25 are absent in the double mutant wee1-50 cdc25 delta. In this interesting situation there is apparently no mitotic size control and the cycle times are quantised. Third, in rum1 delta wee1-50 where the normal long G1 in wee1 is much reduced, there is probably no size control either in G1 or in G2 causing a continuous shortening of division length from cycle to cycle.

Cell Cycle Proteins↗

CO2 production in cell-free extracts of fission yeast detects cell cycle changes.

CO2 production was followed by manometry in starved cell-free extracts of fission yeast stimulated by unstarved cell-free extracts from a synchronous culture. The degree of stimulus, measured by the lag time in CO2 production, varied markedly during the cell cycle, with a maximum for cells at about mitosis and a minimum for septated cells. Similar differences in lag time were found with unstarved extracts of cdc13.117 grown at 37 degrees C and 35 degrees C.

Biomarkers↗