CLONING OF THE HUMAN HOMOLOG OF THE CDC34 CELL-CYCLE GENE BY COMPLEMENTATION IN YEAST

In a screen designed to isolate human cDNAs that complement a yeast G2 phase checkpoint mutation (mec1), we isolated a cDNA homologous to th e Saccharomyces cerevisiae CDC34 gene. The human CDC34 cDNA can functi onally substitute for the yeast CDC34 gene and represents a mammalian homolog of the group of yeast genes required for the late G1 --> S pha se transition. The human CDC34 gene is expressed in multiple cell line s as a unique species and Southern blot analysis reveals evidence for a single gene that is highly conserved in higher eukaryotes. The human gene is located on the far telomeric region of 19p13.3 in a location that defines a region of homology between human chromosome 19p and mou se chromosome 11.