Origins of Cell Compartmentalization Biology Diagrams The regulation of the cell cycle is a network of checkpoints and signaling pathways that ensure orderly progression through the phases of cell division. This regulatory system is crucial for maintaining cellular homeostasis and preventing unchecked cell proliferation.

Cell division requires careful orchestration of three major events: entry into mitosis, chromosomal segregation, and cytokinesis. Signaling within and between the molecules that control these events allows for their coordination via checkpoints, a specific class of signaling pathways that ensure the dependency of cell-cycle events on the successful completion of preceding events. These pathways are controlled by signaling proteins, which are, in turn, expressed by genes. Mutations in these genes can result in malfunctioning signaling proteins. This prevents the cell from regulating its cell cycle, triggering unrestricted cell division and cancer. The genes that regulate the signaling proteins are one type of oncogene: a

How Do Cells Know When and Why to Divide? Biology Diagrams
The interplay between phosphorylation and dephosphorylation is critical for modulating cellular processes such as cell cycle progression, apoptosis, and differentiation. For instance, the phosphorylation of proteins within the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway is crucial for regulating cell division and response to stress. Abstract. Cell division requires careful orchestration of three major events: entry into mitosis, chromosomal segregation, and cytokinesis. Signaling within and between the molecules that control these events allows for their coordination via checkpoints, a specific class of signaling pathways that ensure the dependency of cell-cycle events on the successful completion of preceding events. The cell division signaling pathways are the archetypical checkpoints, defined as signaling pathways that ensure a dependency for the execution of later cell-cycle events on the successful completion of preceding events (Hartwell and Weinert 1989). Two major transitions are required for cell division: the G2/M transition and the metaphase

Integrins, which connect cells to the ECM, relay these cues to intracellular pathways regulating proliferation. This interplay between biochemical and mechanical signals ensures division responds to structural and molecular changes in the surrounding tissue. Nutrient availability also affects whether a cell proceeds with division. Such networking may occur within similar classes of signaling pathways, such as between the Ras and Rho pathways (see Bar-Sagi and Hall 2000 [this issue of Cell]), and between different pathways, such as the Gsฮฑ/cAMP and MAP kinase pathways (Wu et al. 1993; Chen and Iyengar 1994). There are two general classes of interconnections: junctions Interestingly, modulation of WNT/JNK signaling did not affect the velocity of cell movement and alterations in FGF/MAPK signaling did not alter the orientation of cell division. Based on these findings the investigators proposed that the combined activity of these two pathways drives the anisotropic growth of the limb bud ( Gros et al. 2010 ).
