Abstract

Aurora is the name given to a family of highly conserved protein kinases with essential roles in many aspects of cell division. Yeasts have a single Aurora kinase, whereas mammals have three: Aurora A, B and C. During mitosis, Aurora kinases regulate the structure and function of the cytoskeleton and chromosomes and the interactions between these two at the kinetochore. They also regulate signalling by the spindle-assembly checkpoint pathway and cytokinesis. Perturbation of Aurora kinase expression or function might lead to cancer.

Author affiliations

1. Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology, Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology, Kings Buildings, University of Edinburgh, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JR, Scotland, UK.
   Email: mar.carmena@ed.ac.uk;Email: bill.earnshaw@ed.ac.uk