In fact, many yeast cell cycle components can be functionally replaced by human homologues. For each protein, describe its function and the phenotype expected upon mutational inactivation. Although the basic components of the cell cycle are conserved between yeast and man, the vertebrate cell cycle has greater operational and regulatory complexity. Identify three major themes by which the vertebrate cell cycle exhibits greater molecular complexity. For each example, discuss how the added level of complexity may serve the unique growth requirements of vertebrate cells.
Cancer is a disease of inappropriate cell proliferation.
As such, components of the vertebrate cell cycle regulatory system may be expected to contribute to tumorigenesis. Give three examples where a protein involved in cell cycle control has been implicated in the genesis of some human cancer. For each example, summarize and critically evaluate the data that suggests a role for the protein in the genesis of cancer. For each example, suggest a mechanism to explain how mutation of the gene may contribute to tumorigenesis. Next, name and explain the types of molecules that are responsible for this situation and, in another paragraph, indicate what steps are currently considered reasonable to overcome or prevent the lack of effective immune responses.