Key Concepts of Section 19.2

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Key Concepts of Section 19.2

Model Organisms and Methods of Studying the Cell Cycle

  • The ability to isolate mutants and the powerful genetic tools of budding and fission yeasts allowed for the isolation of key genetic factors important for cell cycle regulation.

  • Frog eggs and early embryos from synchronously fertilized eggs, which provide sources of extracts for biochemical studies of cell cycle events, allowed the identification of the oscillatory nature of cyclin-CDK complexes.

  • Fruit flies are a powerful system for investigating the interplay between cell division and the developmental programs responsible for building multicellular organisms.

  • Human tissue culture cells are used to study the properties of the mammalian cell cycle.

  • The generation of synchronized cell populations by reversibly arresting cells in a particular cell cycle stage allows researchers to examine the behavior of proteins and cellular processes during the cell cycle.