Checkpoints maintain the order and fidelity of events of the cell cycle by blocking mitosis in response to unreplicated or damaged DNA. In most species this is accomplished by preventing activation of the cell-division kinase Cdc2, which regulates entry into mitosis. The Chk1 kinase, an effector of the DNA-damage checkpoint, phosphorylates Cdc25, an activator of Cdc2. Phosphorylation of Cdc25 promotes its binding to 14-3-3 proteins, preventing it from activating Cdc2. Here we propose that a similar pathway is required for mitotic arrest in the presence of unreplicated DNA (that is, in the replication checkpoint) in fission yeast. We show by mutagenesis that Chk1 functions redundantly with the kinase Cds1 at the replication checkpoint and that both kinases phosphorylate Cdc25 on the same sites, which include serine residues at positions 99, 192 and 359. Mutation of these residues reduces binding of 14-3-3 proteins to Cdc25 in vitro and disrupts the replication checkpoint in vivo. We conclude that both Cds1 and Chk1 regulate the binding of Cdc25 to 14-3-3 proteins as part of the checkpoint response to unreplicated DNA.

Checkpoints maintain the order of cell-cycle events. At G2/M, a checkpoint blocks mitosis in response to damaged or unreplicated DNA. There are significant differences in the checkpoint responses to damaged DNA and unreplicated DNA, although many of the same genes are involved in both responses. To identify new genes that function specifically in the DNA replication checkpoint pathway, we searched for high-copy suppressors of overproducer of Cdc25p (OPcdc25+), which lacks a DNA replication checkpoint. Two classes of suppressors were isolated. One class includes a new gene encoding a putative DEAD box helicase, suppressor of uncontrolled mitosis (sum3+). This gene negatively regulates the cell-cycle response to stress when overexpressed and restores the checkpoint response by a mechanism that is independent of Cdc2p tyrosine phosphorylation. The second class includes chk1+ and the two Schizosaccharomyces pombe 14-3-3 genes, rad24+ and rad25+, which appear to suppress the checkpoint defect by inhibiting Cdc25p. We show that rad24Δ mutants are defective in the checkpoint response to the DNA replication inhibitor hydroxyurea at 37° and that cds1Δ rad24Δ mutants, like cds1Δ chk1Δ mutants, are entirely checkpoint deficient at 29°. These results suggest that chk1+ and rad24+ may function redundantly with cds1+ in the checkpoint response to unreplicated DNA.