Historical review: an energy reservoir for mitosis, and its productive wake

The realization that DNA is replicated during only a discrete part of interphase in most cells gave birth to the cell-cycle concept exactly half a century ago. But soon thereafter, a controversy arose as to whether a special reservoir of metabolic energy, built up at the end of interphase, was essential for the entry of cells into mitosis. After a period of intense debate, the 'energy reservoir' concept came to a sudden demise. But the notion that mitotic progression involves the cyclic build-up and consumption of key factors endured and, as we all now know so well, eventually triumphed.