APC/C and SCF: Controlling Each Other and the Cell Cycle

• Published in: Current Biology Vol. 14; no. 18; pp. R787 - R796
• Main Author: Vodermaier, Hartmut C.
• Format: Book Review Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Inc 21.09.2004
• Subjects: Anaphase-Promoting Complex-Cyclosome; Cell Cycle - physiology; Eukaryotic Cells - physiology; Models, Biological; Phosphorylation; Signal Transduction - physiology; SKP Cullin F-Box Protein Ligases - physiology; Ubiquitin-Protein Ligase Complexes - physiology; Ubiquitins - physiology
• ISSN: 0960-9822; 1879-0445
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2004.09.020

Regulated protein degradation has emerged as a key recurring theme in multiple aspects of cell-cycle regulation. Importantly, the irreversible nature of proteolysis makes it an invaluable complement to the intrinsically reversible regulation through phosphorylation and other post-translational modifications. Consequently, ubiquitin-protein ligases, the protagonists of regulated protein destruction, have gained prominence that compares to that of the cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdks) in driving the eukaryotic cell-cycle clock. This review will focus on the two main players, the related ubiquitin-protein ligases APC/C and SCF, and how they control cell-cycle progression. I will also try to delineate the regulation and interplay of these destruction mechanisms, which are intricately connected to the kinase network as well as to extrinsic signals. Moreover, cell-cycle ubiquitin-protein ligases are themselves subject to proteolytic control in cis as well as in trans. Finally, a careful comparison of the functions and regulation of APC/C and SCF shows that, in certain aspects, their logic of action is fundamentally different.