Metabolic dynamics during the cell cycle

Abstract

While we have a solid understanding of the cell biological and biochemical control aspects of the eukaryotic cell growth and division process, much less is known about the metabolic and biosynthetic dynamics during the cell cycle. Here, we review recent discoveries made at the single-cell and population level that show that budding yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) metabolism oscillates in synchrony with the cell cycle in actively dividing cells, as well as independently when the cell cycle is halted. In fact, emerging evidence suggests that the cell cycle-independent metabolic oscillations interact with elements of the cell cycle machinery via several possible mechanisms. Furthermore, recent reports indicate that different biosynthetic processes exhibit temporally changing activity patterns during the cell cycle. Thus, resources are drawn from primary metabolism in a dynamic manner, potentially giving rise to metabolic oscillations. Finally, we highlight work with mammalian cells indicating that similar metabolic dynamics might also exist in higher eukaryotes.