Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2019 Sep 1;101(3):591-601.
doi: 10.1093/biolre/ioz070.

Functions of cyclins and CDKs in mammalian gametogenesis†

Jessica Y Chotiner  1   2 , Debra J Wolgemuth  3 , P Jeremy Wang  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Functions of cyclins and CDKs in mammalian gametogenesis†

Jessica Y Chotiner et al. Biol Reprod. .

Abstract

Cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) are key regulators of the cell cycle. Most of our understanding of their functions has been obtained from studies in single-cell organisms and mitotically proliferating cultured cells. In mammals, there are more than 20 cyclins and 20 CDKs. Although genetic ablation studies in mice have shown that most of these factors are dispensable for viability and fertility, uncovering their functional redundancy, CCNA2, CCNB1, and CDK1 are essential for embryonic development. Cyclin/CDK complexes are known to regulate both mitotic and meiotic cell cycles. While some mechanisms are common to both types of cell divisions, meiosis has unique characteristics and requirements. During meiosis, DNA replication is followed by two successive rounds of cell division. In addition, mammalian germ cells experience a prolonged prophase I in males or a long period of arrest in prophase I in females. Therefore, cyclins and CDKs may have functions in meiosis distinct from their mitotic functions and indeed, meiosis-specific cyclins, CCNA1 and CCNB3, have been identified. Here, we describe recent advances in the field of cyclins and CDKs with a focus on meiosis and early embryogenesis.

Keywords: CDK; cell cycle; cyclin; cyclin-dependent kinase; gametogenesis; meiosis; oogenesis; spermatogenesis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Overview of the mitotic cell cycle. A classical model of cyclin/CDK in the mitotic cell cycle is based on biochemical studies in cultured cells. The major types of cyclins (A, B, D, E) and CDKs (CDK1, CDK2, CDK4, and CDK6) are depicted.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Phylogenetic tree of mouse cyclin family members. Maximum likelihood analysis was conducted using RAxML [110]. NCBI accession numbers: NM_007628 (Ccna1), NM_009828 (Ccna2), NM_172301 (Ccnb1), NM_007630 (Ccnb2), NM_183015 (Ccnb3), NM_007631 (Ccnd1), NM_009829 (Ccnd2), NP_001075104 (Ccnd3), NM_007633 (Ccne1), NM_009830 (Ccne2), NM_007634 (Ccnf), NM_009831 (Ccng1), NM_007635 (Ccng2), NM_023243 (Ccnh), NM_017367 (Ccni), NM_172839 (Ccnj), NM_009832 (Ccnk), NM_019937 (Ccnl1), NM_207678 (Ccnl2), NM_001081062 (Ccno), NM_009833 (Ccnt1), NM_028399 (Ccnt2), NM_026484 (Ccny).
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Diagram of cyclin expression during mouse spermatogenesis. This figure was redrawn based on the outline of Figure 2 from this review [111]. Each line represents the qualitative expression of each cyclin in the different germ cell types at the protein level.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Point of action of cyclins and CDK1 in meiotic progression in mouse oocytes. Oocytes deficient for both Ccnb1 and Ccnb2 are arrested at the GV stage.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Lim S, Kaldis P. Cdks, cyclins and CKIs: roles beyond cell cycle regulation. Development 2013; 140(15):3079–3093. - PubMed
    1. Satyanarayana A, Kaldis P. Mammalian cell-cycle regulation: several Cdks, numerous cyclins and diverse compensatory mechanisms. Oncogene 2009; 28(33):2925–2939. - PubMed
    1. Barnum KJ, O’Connell MJ. Cell cycle regulation by checkpoints. Methods Mol Biol 2014; 1170:29–40. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Risal S, Adhikari D, Liu K. Animal models for studying the in vivo functions of cell cycle CDKs. Methods Mol Biol 2016; 1336:155–166. - PubMed
    1. Handel MA, Schimenti JC. Genetics of mammalian meiosis: regulation, dynamics and impact on fertility. Nat Rev Genet 2010; 11(2):124–136. - PubMed

Publication types