Mechanisms of Mitotic Spindle Assembly.

Author
Publication Year
2016

Type

Journal Article
Abstract

Life depends on cell proliferation and the accurate segregation of chromosomes, which are mediated by the microtubule (MT)-based mitotic spindle and ∼200 essential MT-associated proteins. Yet, a mechanistic understanding of how the mitotic spindle is assembled and achieves chromosome segregation is still missing. This is mostly due to the density of MTs in the spindle, which presumably precludes their direct observation. Recent insight has been gained into the molecular building plan of the metaphase spindle using bulk and single-molecule measurements combined with computational modeling. MT nucleation was uncovered as a key principle of spindle assembly, and mechanistic details about MT nucleation pathways and their coordination are starting to be revealed. Lastly, advances in studying spindle assembly can be applied to address the molecular mechanisms of how the spindle segregates chromosomes.

Journal
Annu Rev Biochem
Volume
85
Pages
659-83
Date Published
2016 Jun 02
ISSN Number
1545-4509
Alternate Journal
Annu Rev Biochem
PMCID
PMC5016079
PMID
27145846