Hee Won, Steve, Ariel (and others!) paper is out in eLife!

April 20, 2020

Stress-mediated exit to quiescence restricted by increasing persistence in CDK4/6 activation

Our study reports the development of a live-cell reporter for CDK4/6 activity. Using a dual CDK4/6 and CDK2 reporter system, we find a that CDK4/6 activity is typically rapidly activated in G0/G1 after a long delay before CDK2 activity increases more gradually. We show that CDk4/6 activity then stays on in most cells throughout S and G2 phase of the cell cycle. Markedly, we find that stress signaling during G1 can turn CDK4/6 activity rapidly off and force cell-cycle exit until cells approach the G1/S transition. During this time period, the sensitivity of CDK4/6 activity for stress becomes gradually reduced.