The tight regulation of CtIP throughout the cell cycle raises the possibility that low CtIP levels could result from populations of cells arrested outside of the S or G2 phase. However, prior work on cells harboring the Mre11−/− murine knockout or a variety of other spontaneous or engineered MRN mutations has demonstrated that MRN deficiency does not cause a substantial arrest during the cell cycle. Rather, these cells proliferate more slowly than the control does, but all phases of the cell cycle are equally represented. To further address this concern, we examined CtIP levels in cells synchronized by release from serum starvation. Cell-cycle progression was tracked by the appearance of cyclin A, which is specific to S or G2. Upon release, cyclin A became readily detectable in control (Mre11+/−), MRN-deficient (Mre11−/−) and Mre11 nuclease-deficient (Mre11H129N/−) populations (Fig. 1b). CtIP was clearly deficient in Mre11−/− cells throughout the time course, including at points with maximal cyclin A levels (S or G2 populations) (Fig. 1b). Thus, in mammals, CtIP levels appear to be under control of the MRN complex. This hitherto unknown role for MRN is independent of Mre11 nuclease activities and the ATM kinase.