Deregulated expression of E2F-1 induces cyclin A- and E-associated kinase activities independently from cell cycle position

Abstract

The transcription factor E2F activates genes required for S phase, such as cyclin E and cyclin A. We show that, contrary to long term effects of E2F-1 overexpression, short ectopic overexpression of this transcription factor in logarithmically growing cells does neither affect the cell cycle distribution nor the cell size, but heavily induces cyclin E and A expression as well as cyclin E- and A-dependent kinase activities. We further separated logarithmically growing E2F-1-overexpressing cells according to their different cell cycle phases by centrifugal elutriation. These experiments revealed that deregulated E2F-1 expression triggers high levels of cyclin E and A expression and kinase activities in small early G₁ cells, normally not exhibiting these activities. These effects on the regulation of cyclin E- and A-associated kinases are not accompanied by any detectable alteration in the rate of progression through the cell cycle, suggesting that these changes are independent of any mitogenic properties of E2F-1.