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Nature Cell Biology 5, 505–511 (1 June 2003) | doi:10.1038/ncb0603-505

Polar expeditions |[mdash]| provisioning the centrosome for mitosis

Sarah P. Blagden & David M. Glover

It is now clear that both centrioles and their surrounding pericentriolar material (PCM) are capable of self-assembly. Whereas centrioles are normally duplicated during G1–S phase, PCM components may be loaded onto centrosomes in both a microtubule-dependent and -independent manner at all stages of the cell cycle. Centrosomes enlarge dramatically after mitotic entry, when both Aurora A and Polo-like kinases cooperate to recruit additional γ-tubulin ring complexes and microtubule-associated proteins to assist spindle formation.