Abstract
Understanding the quantitative principles underlying the durations of each of the four cell cycle phases has remained a challenge, despite the extensive knowledge on the molecular components and mechanisms related to cell cycle control. In their recent study, Purvis and colleagues (Chao et al , 2019) quantify cell cycle phase durations in human cells and propose a model whereby cell cycle progression in single cells is a succession of uncoupled, memoryless phases, each composed of a characteristic rate and number of steps.
Highlights
Understanding the quantitative principles underlying the durations of each of the four cell cycle phases has remained a challenge, despite the extensive knowledge on the molecular components and mechanisms related to cell cycle control
Cell cycle dynamics seem to be highly variable in individual cells making population studies inadequate for a quantitative understanding of cell cycle progression
Variability in protein concentration due to stochasticity in gene expression, protein partitioning during cell division, stress signals, coupling to the circadian clock, and environmental changes have all been implicated in regulating the inherent variability in cell cycle phase durations in individual cells
Summary
Understanding the quantitative principles underlying the durations of each of the four cell cycle phases has remained a challenge, despite the extensive knowledge on the molecular components and mechanisms related to cell cycle control. This dynamical and nonlinear network regulates the activity of cyclin-dependent kinases and their opposing phosphatases, and as such, it drives the cell cycle forward through its four main phases: G1, S, G2, and M phase (Fig 1A). Recent work (Arora et al, 2017; Yang et al, 2017) has shown that heritable factors from mother to daughter cells enable similarities in cell cycle phase dynamics between sister cells across cell lineages.
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