The role of the G1 period in the life cycle of eukaryotic cells

Human CST has independent functions during telomere duplex replication and C-strand fill-in

Human CST (CTC1-STN1-TEN1) is an RPA-like complex that is needed for efficient replication through the telomere duplex and genome-wide replication restart after fork stalling. Here, we show that STN1/CST has a second function in telomere replication during G-overhang maturation. Analysis of overhang structure after STN1 depletion revealed normal kinetics for telomerase-mediated extension in S phase but a delay in subsequent overhang shortening. This delay resulted from a defect in C-strand fill-in. Short telomeres exhibited the fill-in defect but normal telomere duplex replication, indicating that STN1/CST functions independently in these processes. Our work also indicates that the requirement for STN1/CST in telomere duplex replication correlates with increasing telomere length and replication stress. Our results provide direct evidence that STN1/CST participates in C-strand fill-in. They also demonstrate that STN1/CST participates in two mechanistically separate steps during telomere replication and identify CST as a replication factor that solves diverse replication-associated problems.

G1 shortening following unbalanced growth: a specific v. nonspecific effect

The synthesis and abundance of proteins were examined in synchronous populations of HeLa cells under conditions in which the lengthening of S phase, by inhibiting DNA synthesis, resulted in shortening of G1 in the subsequent generation. Mitotically collected cells were resynchronized by incubation with 3 microM aphidicolin from 3 to 12 h after mitotic selection; they were blocked again at various times thereafter to induce unbalanced growth. Cells were labelled with [35S]-methionine before and after release from the block to study the changes in protein synthesis. Triton X-100 soluble and insoluble proteins were analysed by 7-15% gradient SDS-PAGE, and radioactivity incorporation was quantified by liquid-scintillation counting. The degree of G1 shortening correlated with S phase position, increasing gradually from early S and reaching maximum when cells were blocked half-way through S phase. Synthesis of proteins of 120, 66, and 51 kDa was stimulated, and synthesis of a new protein of 57kDa was observed, in cells in which DNA synthesis had been blocked in mid-S. These proteins also showed increased accumulation. These results suggest that the shortening of G1, induced by the prior arrest of cell-cycle progression, is associated with synthesis of specific proteins rather than the non-specific accumulation of cellular proteins through unbalanced growth.

The G1 interval in the mammalian cell cycle: dual control by mass accumulation and stage-specific activities

The temporal determinants of the G1 cell cycle interval were investigated using nine mammalian cell lines. In each case, cells were allowed to proliferate for many cell cycles under conditions that slowed progress through S phase without an equivalent impairment of overall mass accumulation. This disproportionate inhibition of progress through the cell cycle caused newly produced cells to be more massive than usual. Under these growth conditions, the determinants of the length of the G1 interval became evident. For two cell lines, HeLa S3 and NIH 3T3, a protracted S phase, and the resultant increase in mass, resulted in a dramatically shortened G1 interval. Thus, for these cell lines, a major portion of G1 time exists to accommodate mass accumulation needed to initiate the subsequent S phase. Nevertheless, under conditions that protracted S phase and shortened the G1 interval, cells still exhibited a measurable G1 time, reflecting the stage-specific activities within G1. One activity that may be responsible for this obligatory G1 time is the synthesis of a labile protein. For other cells studied here, protraction of S phase also caused proliferating cells to become more massive, but in these cases there was no diminution of the G1 time. For these cells, the entire G1 interval must accommodate G1-specific activities necessary to initiate a new cell cycle. A unifying view of the G1 interval recognizes the two distinct influences that determine the time spent in G1: the need to accumulate sufficient mass to initiate a new DNA-division sequence; and the stage-specific events necessary for the subsequent S phase. The length of the G1 interval is dictated by the longer of these two time-consuming activities.

Kinetics of the development of accelerated cell-cycle transit resulting from inhibition of DNA replication in the previous cycle

Shortening of the generation cycle in cells in which DNA synthesis had been temporarily inhibited in the previous generation, which has been reported several times in recent years, has been confirmed in HeLa cells. As in the previous studies, the shortening is attributable to accelerated transit of G1 resulting from the accumulation, during the inhibition, of a factor needed for initiation of DNA replication. It is shown that partial (85-96%) inhibition with any one of three inhibitors is effective when the inhibitor is added in G1 or in S, but more complete (99%) inhibition is effective only if the inhibitor is added after cells have entered S. In addition, cells begin to respond to the inhibition after a lag that increases as DNA synthesis in the early part of S is progressively inhibited with aphidicolin, indicating that competence to respond is achieved only after cells have reached a particular point in the replication of their genome.

Cell cycle controls in higher eukaryotic cells: resting state or a prolonged G1 period?

We express the viewpoint that control over cell growth in higher eukaryotes is achieved predominantly by regular transition of cells from proliferation to rest and vice versa as a result of coordinated interrelationship between intracellular growth inhibitors and extracellular growth factors. The resting state is considered as a special physiological state of a cell where the prereplicative reactions necessary for the onset of DNA synthesis are inhibited. Cells pass into a resting state at each successive cell cycle, with regard to the next cycle, once the threshold level of growth inhibitors has been attained. Cellular rest may thus initiate and proceed in parallel with conventional periods of the cell cycle but in a hidden way. Its termination strictly depends on the appropriate concentration of extracellular growth factors. In the absence of growth factors cells, after completing mitosis, pass into an overt state of rest metabolically different from any period of the cell cycle including G1.