The Small but Versatile Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Subunit CKS: C. elegans CKS-1 Regulates Anaphase Onset and Is Required for Anaphase B During Oocyte Meiosis.

The cyclin-dependent kinase subunit (CKS) remains the least well-understood component of the tripartite cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) complexes that specify the proper sequence of events required to duplicate and segregate genomes during eukaryotic cell division. Our recent investigation of CKS requirements during Caenorhabditis elegans oocyte meiosis I and II documents an essential role for CKS in the execution of anaphase B and expands the known range of CKS influence on cell cycle regulation to a third class of E3 ligases. Our findings also further document how C. elegans oocytes use very different mechanisms to progress through these two sequential cell divisions that ultimately produce a haploid oocyte. In this Think Again article, we discuss our findings as they relate to previous studies of CKS in different model systems.