Cdc10 Background Information
Yeast cell division control (Cdc) genes encode a highly conserved family of protein-serine/threonine/tyrosine kinases and phosphatases that are required for the execution of discrete steps in the cell cycle. In the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the Cdc3, Cdc10, Cdc11, Cdc12, and Sep7/Shs1 septins assemble early in the cell cycle in a ring that marks the cytokinetic plane throughout the budding cycle (1,2). This ring structure participates in different aspects of morphogenesis, such as selection of cell polarity, localization of chitin synthesis, the switch from hyperpolar to isotropic bud growth after bud emergence and the spatial regulation of septation (2). The septins are a major structural component of a set of filaments at the mother-bud neck and function in the formation of septa, mating projections, and spores in S. cerevisiae (1,3). Mutants, defective in any of the four genes (CDC3, CDC10, CDC11, CDC12), lack these septin filaments and display a pleiotropic phenotype that involves abnormal bud growth and an inability to complete cytokinesis (4).
