Cyclin

Cyclins were originally discovered by R. Timothy Hunt in 1982 while studying the cell cycle of sea urchins. In an interview hosted by Jim Al-Khalili and R. Timothy Hunt for "The Life Scientific", which aired on December 13, 2011, explained that the name "cyclin" was originally named after his hobby cycling. It was only after the naming did its importance in the cell cycle become apparent. As it was appropriate, the name stuck. R. Timothy Hunt: "By the way, the name cyclin, which I coined, was really a joke, it's because I liked cycling so much at the time, but they did come and go in the cell..." Cyclins were originally named because their concentration varies in a cyclical fashion during the cell cycle. (Note that the cyclins are now classified according to their conserved cyclin box structure, and not all these cyclins alter in level through the cell cycle.) The oscillations of the cyclins, namely fluctuations in cyclin gene expression and destruction by the ubiquitin mediated proteasome pathway, induce oscillations in Cdk activity to drive the cell cycle. A cyclin forms a complex with Cdk, which begins to activate, but the complete activation requires phosphorylation as well.