Mechanisms of Mitotic Spindle Assembly. Author Sabine Petry 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. Keywords Animals, Humans, Signal Transduction, Gene Expression Regulation, Drosophila melanogaster, Microtubule-Associated Proteins, Xenopus Proteins, Xenopus laevis, Centrosome, Metaphase, Microtubules, Spindle Apparatus, Zygote, Chromosome Segregation, Kinetochores, Tubulin, Kinesins Journal Annu Rev Biochem Volume 85 Pages 659-83 Date Published 2016 Jun 02 ISSN Number 1545-4509 DOI 10.1146/annurev-biochem-060815-014528 Alternate Journal Annu Rev Biochem PMCID PMC5016079 PMID 27145846 PubMedPubMed CentralGoogle ScholarBibTeXEndNote X3 XML