MCB Accepts, published online ahead of print on 19 October 2009

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Mol. Cell. Biol. doi:10.1128/MCB.00687-09
Copyright (c) 2009, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

SAFEGUARDING ENTRY INTO MITOSIS: THE ANTEPHASE CHECKPOINT

Cheen Fei Chin and Foong May Yeong^*

MD 7, 8 Medical Drive, Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: bchyfm{at}nus.edu.sg.

Maintenance of genomic stability is needed for cells to survive many rounds of division throughout its lifetime. Key to the proper inheritance of intact genome is the tight temporal and spatial coordination of cell cycle events. Moreover, checkpoints are present that function to monitor the proper execution of cell cycle processes. For instance, the DNA damage and spindle assembly checkpoints ensure genomic integrity by delaying cell cycle progression in the presence of DNA or spindle damage respectively. A checkpoint that is recently gaining attention is the antephase checkpoint that acts to prevent cells from entering mitosis in response to a range of stress agents. We review here what is known about the pathway that monitors the status of the cells at the brink of entry into mitosis when cells are exposed to insults that threaten the proper inheritance of chromosomes. We highlight issues which are unresolved in terms of our understanding of the antephase checkpoint and provide some perspectives of what lies ahead in the understanding of how the checkpoint functions.