Closing the cell cycle circle in yeast: G2 cyclin proteolysis initiated at mitosis persists until the activation of G1 cyclins in the next cycle.

It is thought that DNA replication and mitosis in yeast are triggered by oscillations in the level of G1-specific (CLN1 and CLN2) and G2-specific (CLB1-CLB4) cyclins, which determine the substrate specificity of the CDC28 protein kinase. It is not understood how the time and order of appearance of different cyclin types are determined. We show here that CLB2 proteolysis, which is important for transition from mitosis to G1, is not confined to a narrow window at the end of mitosis as previously thought but continues until reactivation of CDC28 by CLN cyclins toward the end of the subsequent G1 period. Thus, cell cycle-regulated proteolysis prevents accumulation of G2-specific CLB cyclins during G1 and thereby ensures that the CLN-associated forms of the CDC28 kinase are activated without interference from CLB cyclins. Accumulation of CLN cyclins leads to inactivation of CLB cyclin proteolysis, which is a precondition for subsequent activation of G2-specific B-type cyclins.