Effect of cyclins and Cdks on the cyclin B1 promoter activation

To study the effect of several cyclins on cyclin B1 promoter activation, we co-transfected cyclin A. cyclin E and cyclin D1 expressing plasmids with a cyclin B1 promoter construction driving a luciferase reporter gene into NIH 3T3 cells. All three cyclins produced activation of the reporter gene, however, co-transfection of cyclin A with a Cdk2 dominant negative mutant blocks activation by cyclin A. Our results suggest that cyclin B1 activation depends on Cdk2 kinase activity associated to cyclin A. To our knowledge this is the first report showing positive effect of cyclin A, cyclin E and cyclin D1 on cyclin B1 activation and blocking of this activation by a Cdk2 dominant negative mutant.