Lecture Overview

Part 1:
Cells reproduce by duplicating their chromosomes and other components and then distributing them into a pair of genetically identical daughter cells. This series of events is called the cell cycle. In the first part of this lecture, I provide a general overview of the cell-cycle control system, a complex regulatory network that guides the cell through the steps of cell division. I briefly describe the major components of this regulatory system and how they fit together to form a series of biochemical switches that trigger cell-cycle events at the correct time and in the correct order.

Part 2:
Cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdks) are the central components of the control system that initiates the events of the cell cycle. In the second part of this lecture, I discuss my laboratory's efforts to address the problem of how the Cdks trigger cell-cycle events. I describe our methods for identifying the protein substrates of the Cdks, and I discuss how these studies have led to important clues about how Cdks find their correct targets in the cell and how phosphorylation of those targets governs their function.

Part 3:
In the anaphase stage of the cell cycle, the duplicated chromosomes are pulled apart by a machine called the mitotic spindle, resulting in the distribution of a complete set of chromosomes to each of the daughter cells. In the third part of this lecture, I describe the combination of biochemistry and microscopy in my laboratory that led to the discovery of a regulatory switch that triggers the abrupt and synchronous separation of the chromosomes at the onset of anaphase.

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