Cell Cycle Group

Our group studies chromosome replication and cytokinesis in eukaryotic cells. We identified a number of novel cell cycle proteins in a systematic analysis of all the essential budding yeast proteins that were previously of unknown function. Four of these are required for chromosome replication; interestingly, they interact with each to form a single complex called GINS. We have found that GINS is crucial for both the establishment and regulation of eukaryotic DNA replication forks, as it is required to build a novel assembly of proteins around the MCM helicase, which we call the Replisome Progression Complex (or RPC). The formation, roles and regulation of eukaryotic DNA replication forks are now major interests of our group. We also identified a novel protein, called Cdc104, which is essential for cytokinesis. Studying the role of Cdc104 has led us to investigate how Cyclin-Dependent Kinase (CDK) prevents cell division from occurring until the end of mitosis.