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Cell division

Nature volume 422, pages 746–752 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

In creating the mitotic spindle and the contractile ring, natural selection has engineered fascinating precision machines whose movements depend upon forces generated by ensembles of cytoskeletal proteins. These machines segregate chromosomes and divide the cell with high fidelity. Current research on the mechanisms and regulation of spindle morphogenesis, chromosome motility and cytokinesis emphasizes how ensembles of dynamic cytoskeletal polymers and multiple motors cooperate to generate the forces that guide the cell through mitosis and cytokinesis.

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Figure 1: Mitosis and cytokinesis.
Figure 2: Spindle behaviour.

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Acknowledgements

Supported by the National Institutes of Health.

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  1. Laboratory of Cell and Computational Biology, Center for Genetics and Development, University of California, Davis, 95616, California, USA

    Jonathan M. Scholey, Ingrid Brust-Mascher & Alex Mogilner

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Correspondence to Jonathan M. Scholey.

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Scholey, J., Brust-Mascher, I. & Mogilner, A. Cell division. Nature 422, 746–752 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01599

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