cdc2 protein kinase is complexed with both cyclin A and B: Evidence for proteolytic inactivation of MPF

In the clam, Spisula, two previously described proteins known as cyclin A and B display the unusual property of selective proteolytic degradation at the end of each mitosis. We show here that clam oocytes and embryos contain a cdc2 protein kinase. This protein kinase is a component of the M phase promoting factor (MPF) in frog eggs and the M phase-specific histone H1 kinase in starfish. Clam cdc2 is found in association with both cyclin A and B, probably not as a trimolecular association, but as separate cdc2/cyclin A and cdc2/cyclin B complexes. Clam cdc2 and the associated cyclins bind to p13suc1-Sepharose. The p13-bound complex, and also anti-cyclin A or B immunoprecipitates, each display cell cycle-dependent histone H1 kinase activity. We suggest that in addition to the cdc2 protein kinase, the cyclins are further components of the M phase promoting factor and that cyclin proteolysis provides the mechanism of MPF inactivation and thus exit from mitosis.