O. P. Matyshevska*, V. M. Danilova, M. V. Grigorieva, S. V. Komisarenko

Palladin Institute of Biochemistry, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv;
*e-mail: matysh@yahoo.com

Received: 27 October 2023; Revised: 28 November 2023;
Accepted: 01 December 2023; Available on-line: 18 December 2023

Leland Hartwell, Paul Nurse and Timothy Hunt in 2001 were awarded the Nobel Prize for their discovery of molecular and genetic mechanisms of the cell cycle. The review analyzes the features of the objects chosen by scientists, a wide range of methods from conventional light microscopy to recombinant DNA technology and complementation test, used for research, and covers a history of the discoveries made. Thanks to the work of these scientists, a modern­ understanding of the cell cycle checkpoints, the complexes formed by cyclin and cyclin-dependent­ kinases at different phases of the cell cycle, as well as the mechanism of periodic cyclin degradation and the universality of the cyclin mechanism of cellular division in all living organisms was gained.