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The centrosome — a tiny organelle with big potential

Nature Genetics volume 20, pages 104–106 (1998)Cite this article

Centrosomes were observed over 100 years ago by Theodor Boveri who believed they represented the "material of inheritance"1. While they have not lived up to Boveri's original claim, centrosomes have re-entered centre stage as structures involved in partitioning the material of inheritance--now commonly known as chromosomes--into daughter cells during cell division. Boveri later understood the importance of centrosomes in segregating chromosomes and proposed that chromosome missegregation (aneuploidy) in human malignant tumours could arise from defects in centrosome function2. The work described by Hongyi Zhou and co-workers on page 189 (ref. 3), together with recent data from other laboratories, provides a more direct link between centrosomes and tumorigenesis.

STK15, centrosome amplification and transformation

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Figure 1: Mitotic spindles in normal and centrosome-defective cells.
Figure 2: Multiple abnormal centrosomes in a cancer cell.
Figure 3

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  1. Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, 373 Plantation Street, Worcester , 01605, Massachusetts, USA

    Stephen Doxsey

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Doxsey, S. The centrosome — a tiny organelle with big potential. Nat Genet 20, 104–106 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/2392

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