Cell cycle progression requires cells to continually remodel their gene expression programs as they transition through distinct functional states. Although transcriptional and post-translational mechanisms have long dominated our understanding of this regulation, recent work additionally highlights the essential contribution of cell cycle-specific mRNA decay and translational control. Across G1, S, G2, and mitosis, cells dynamically modulate global and transcript-specific mRNA stability and translation to coordinate processes including DNA replication, growth, checkpoint signaling, and chromosome segregation. Mitosis presents a particularly striking challenge: transcription is silenced, necessitating that cells rely on post-transcriptional mechanisms to sustain mitotic functions and preserve viability. In this review, we highlight how these coordinated layers of post-transcriptional regulation collectively contribute to cell cycle control.
Ly et al. (Thu,) studied this question.