Geminin, an inhibitor of DNA replication, is degraded during mitosis

We describe a novel 25 kDa protein, geminin, which inhibits DNA replication and is degraded during the mitotic phase of the cell cycle. Geminin has a destruction box sequence and is ubiquitinated anaphase-promoting complex (APC) in vitro. In synchronized HeLa cells, geminin is absent during G1 phase, accumulates during S, G2, and M phases, and disappears at the time of the metaphase-anaphase transition. Geminin inhibits DNA replication by preventing the incorporation of MCM complex into prereplication complex (pre-RC). We propose that geminin inhibits DNA replication during S, G2, and M phases and that geminin destruction at the metaphase-anaphase transition permits replication in the succeeding cell cycle.