A CELL-CYCLE CHECKPOINT MONITORS CELL MORPHOGENESIS IN BUDDING YEAST

Checkpoint controls are regulatory pathways that inhibit cell cycle pr ogression in cells that have not faithfully completed a prior step in the cell cycle. In the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, DNA rep lication and spindle assembly are monitored by checkpoint controls tha t prevent nuclear division in cells that have failed to complete these processes. During the normal cell cycle, bud formation is temporally coincident with DNA replication and spindle assembly, and the nucleus divides along the mother-bud axis in mitosis. In this report, we show that inhibition of bud formation also causes a dramatic delay in nucle ar division. This allows cells to recover from a transient disruption of cell polarity without becoming binucleate. The delay occurs after D NA replication and spindle assembly, and results from delayed activati on of the master cell cycle regulatory kinase, Cdc28. Cdc28 activation is inhibited by phosphorylation of Cdc28 on tyrosine 19, and by delay ed accumulation of the B-type cyclins Clb1 and Clb2. These results sug gest the existence of a novel checkpoint that monitors cell morphogene sis in budding yeast.