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Cell cycle

Conducting the mitotic symphony

Nature volume 406, pages 354–356 (2000)Cite this article

The process by which chromosomes condense and segregate during mitosis (nuclear division) can be likened to a symphony in which many instruments, working individually, are coordinated to produce a collective piece of elegance and beauty. The conductor, with a wave of the baton, ensures that each musical instrument enters the symphony at the proper time. The conductors of the mitotic symphony, called ‘checkpoints’, do much the same thing, and prevent errors in chromosome segregation that can lead to diseases such as Down's syndrome and cancer. On page 430of this issue1, Scolnick and Halazonetis identify a new conductor that monitors early movements in the mitotic symphony, and describe a possible link between cancer and a failure of this conductor to do its job.

We already knew about the existence of two conductors of this mitotic symphony (Fig. 1). One, the spindle-assembly checkpoint, ensures that each pair of chromosomes is correctly attached to a bipolar spindle before anaphase2. A second conductor in yeast depends on the BIM1 /EB1 gene3; this checkpoint delays the exit from mitosis when the spindle is orientated abnormally.

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Figure 1: The conductors of the mitotic symphony.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Verna and Marrs McLean Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, One Baylor Plaza, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, 77030, Texas, USA

    David Cortez & Stephen J. Elledge

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  1. David Cortez
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  2. Stephen J. Elledge
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Correspondence to Stephen J. Elledge.

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Cortez, D., Elledge, S. Conducting the mitotic symphony. Nature 406, 354–356 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35019227

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