Cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdks) are enzymes involved with the control of mitosis; Drs. Lee Hartwell and Paul Nurse won the Nobel
Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2001 for their work on Cdks. What organism was used to study these enzymes? a) Mus musculus
b) Escherichia coli
c) Saccharomyces cerevisiae
d) Arabidopsis thaliana
Dr. Leland Hartwell used baker’s yeast, <em>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</em>, as a model system, which was a highly suitable model for cell cycle studies. He introduced the concept of Checkpoints where he said cells are arrested if damaged so that the cells repair system can work to correct such damages. Dr. Paul Nurse used a different type of yeast, <em>Schizosaccharomyces pombe</em>, a type of yeast distantly related to the baker's yeast as a model organism.
