Cell cycle pacemaker keeps adhesion in step with division.

Adherent cells round up before division but it is unclear how detachment is regulated by the cell cycle. In this issue, Jones et al. (2018. J. Cell Biol. https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201802088) find the kinase CDK1 maintains adhesion during interphase by phosphorylating integrin adhesome proteins, including the formin FMNL2, and loss of this function of CDK1 activity in G2 triggers adhesion disassembly.