The transcription factor Swi5 regulates expression of the cyclin kinase inhibitor p40SIC1.

DNA replication in budding yeast cells depends on the activation of the Cdc28 kinase (Cdk1 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae) associated with B-type cyclins Clb1 to Clb6. Activation of the kinase depends on proteolysis of the Cdk inhibitor p40SIC1 in late G1, which is mediated by the ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme Cdc34 and two other proteins, Cdc4 and Cdc53. Inactivation of any one of these three proteins prevents p40SIC1 degradation and causes cells to arrest in G1 with active Cln kinases but no Clb-associated Cdc28 kinase activity. Deletion of SIC1 allows these mutants to replicate. p40SIC1 disappears at the G1/S transition and reappears only after nuclear division. Cell cycle-regulated proteolysis seems largely responsible for this pattern, but transcriptional control could also contribute; SIC1 RNA accumulates to high levels as cells exit M phase. To identify additional factors necessary for the inhibition of the Cdk1/Cdc28 kinase in G1, we isolated mutants that can replicate DNA in the absence of Cdc4 function. Mutations in three loci (SIC1, SWI5, and RIC3) were identified. We have shown that high SIC1 transcript levels at late M phase depend on Swi5. Swi5 accumulates in the cytoplasm during S, G2, and M phases of the cell cycle but enters the nuclei at late anaphase. Our data suggest that cell cycle-regulated nuclear accumulation of Swi5 is responsible for the burst of SIC1 transcription at the end of anaphase. This transcriptional control may be important for inactivation of the Clb/Cdk1 kinase in G2/M transition and during the subsequent G1 period.