Genotoxic stress prevents Ndd1-dependent transcriptional activation of G2/M-specific genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Downregulation of specific transcripts is one of the mechanisms utilized by eukaryotic checkpoint systems to prevent cell cycle progression. Here we identified and explored such a mechanism in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It involves the Mec1-Rad53 kinase cascade, which attenuates G(2)/M-specific gene transcription upon genotoxic stress.