Cell division articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    The spindle assembly checkpoint protects against premature chromosome segregation during mitosis but it is not known whether microtubule attachment to the kinetochore, or force generated from this interaction, is being monitored. Here the authors uncouple these processes and show that microtubule attachment is sufficient to satisfy the checkpoint.

    • Banafsheh Etemad
    • , Timo E. F. Kuijt
    •  & Geert J. P. L. Kops

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The spindle assembly checkpoint prevents mitotic progression when chromosomes are not properly attached to the mitotic spindle. Here Tauchman et al.show that stable microtubule attachment to the kinetochore, and not tension generated from this interaction, is sufficient to silence the checkpoint.

    • Eric C. Tauchman
    • , Frederick J. Boehm
    •  & Jennifer G. DeLuca

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Research on the gut microbiota would benefit from improved methods to study microbial population growth. Here, Myhrvold et al. present a ‘mark and recapture’ method that uses genetically encoded fluorescent particles to measure the growth rates of gut microbes in live animals.

    • Cameron Myhrvold
    • , Jonathan W. Kotula
    •  & Pamela A. Silver

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In epithelial layers cells must round up prior to division. Here the authors use micropillar arrays to mimic epithelial confinement and show that MDCK cells generate force to create space to divide; if unable to generate sufficient force they escape the micropillars to divide and return to confinement.

    • Barbara Sorce
    • , Carlos Escobedo
    •  & Daniel J. Müller

  • Article |

    Mutation of ASPM is associated with spindle orientation defects and microcephaly in humans. Capecchi and Pozner reveal that mice expressing truncated ASPM also display impaired neural stem cell maintenance as a result of a previously unknown requirement for ASPM in cell cycle progression.

    • Mario R. Capecchi
    •  & Amir Pozner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Barriers to DNA replication are potent sources of genome instability. Here, the authors provide a mechanistic model for how a single persistent G-quadruplex structure generates multiple substrates for polymerase theta-mediated end-joining, thus causing multiple deletions during animal development.

    • Bennie Lemmens
    • , Robin van Schendel
    •  & Marcel Tijsterman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Dam1 complex binds kinetochores to microtubules during mitosis. Here the authors combine cross-linking/mass spectrometry with structural modelling to derive a structure for the Dam1 complex that changes when bound to microtubules; further, they provide a mechanism for regulation by Aurora B kinase.

    • Alex Zelter
    • , Massimiliano Bonomi
    •  & Trisha N. Davis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The accumulation of chemoreceptor proteins at bacterial poles is thought to depend on their clustering into arrays. Strahl et al. show that in Bacillus subtilis, the chemoreceptor TlpA uses high membrane curvature as a spatial cue for polar localization, through the intrinsic curvature sensitivity of the receptor complex.

    • H. Strahl
    • , S. Ronneau
    •  & L. W. Hamoen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The stem and progenitor populations that regulate mammary gland development are debated. Giraddi et al.use experimental and mathematical approaches to show that the three lineages of the mammary gland are maintained by their own restricted progenitors, and that cycling status links to the oestrus cycle.

    • Rajshekhar R. Giraddi
    • , Mona Shehata
    •  & John Stingl

  • Article
    | Open Access

    SETDB1 is a histone methyltransferase and a role for the protein has been proposed in cancer. Here, the authors show that SETDB1 contributes to hepatocellular cancer by preferably forming a complex with mutant p53, resulting in di-methylation of a critical lysine residue and stabilization of the protein.

    • Qi Fei
    • , Ke Shang
    •  & Jianyong Shou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In fission yeast, cell growth is co-ordinated with division by the cell tip-localized DYRK kinase Pom1, which inhibits the medially placed mitotic activator Cdr2. Here, Kelkar and Martin show that, upon glucose starvation, microtubules are destabilized in a PKA-dependent manner, leading to the deposition of Pom1 at cell sides where it delays mitosis.

    • Manasi Kelkar
    •  & Sophie G. Martin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Kinesin-5 is a tetrameric motor that slides antiparallel microtubules during mitotic spindle assembly. Chen and Hancock show that this motor also promotes microtubule assembly by stabilising protofilaments at growing plus ends, which results in the formation of banana peel-like structures.

    • Yalei Chen
    •  & William O Hancock

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cohesion is associated with many forms of cancer. De Lange et al. show that such cohesion defects can sensitise cells to apoptosis in response to a new APC/C ubiquitin ligase inhibitor, by prolonging mitotic arrest and checkpoint activation due to cohesion fatigue.

    • Job de Lange
    • , Atiq Faramarz
    •  & Rob M. F. Wolthuis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Components of the Hippo signalling pathway localize to apical junctions in epithelial cells, where they regulate growth in response to mechanical and biochemical cues. Sun et al. show that these proteins are organized into distinct junctional complexes, which reorganize up on Hippo pathway activation.

    • Shuguo Sun
    • , B. V. V. G. Reddy
    •  & Kenneth D. Irvine

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The synthetic production of model protocells, which represent potential intermediates between nonliving material and living cells, may help to explain the origin of cellular life. Here, Kuriharaet al. develop a giant vesicle-based model protocell that is able to self-proliferate recursively in response to external stimuli.

    • Kensuke Kurihara
    • , Yusaku Okura
    •  & Tadashi Sugawara

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The target of rapamycin complex 1 (TORC1) pathway couples nutrient availability with cell growth and division by destabilizing the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor Sic1. Here the authors show that TORC1 downregulation leads to stabilization of Sic1 via phosphorylation by the MAP kinase Mpk1 and inhibition of dephosphorylation via the greatwall kinase pathway.

    • Marta Moreno-Torres
    • , Malika Jaquenoud
    •  & Claudio De Virgilio

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Polarized epithelial cells orient their mitotic spindles in the plane of the sheet but the role of cell adhesion molecules in this process is poorly understood. Here Tuncay et al. show that JAM-A regulates spindle orientation by creating a gradient of PtdIns(3,4,5)P3, regulating cortical actin assembly and localizing dynactin to the cell cortex.

    • Hüseyin Tuncay
    • , Benjamin F. Brinkmann
    •  & Klaus Ebnet

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Most differentiated mammalian cells assemble a primary cilium, which serves as a cellular ‘antenna’ for sensing and responding to the extracellular environment. Here the authors show that Nek2-mediated phosphorylation of Kif24 further promotes the loss of primary cilia, triggered by Aurora A and HDAC6 on cell cycle re-entry.

    • Sehyun Kim
    • , Kwanwoo Lee
    •  & Brian David Dynlacht

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Staphylococci are spherical bacteria that divide in sequential orthogonal planes. Here, the authors use super-resolution microscopy to show that staphylococcal cells elongate before dividing, and that the division septum generates less than one hemisphere of each daughter cell, generating asymmetry.

    • João M. Monteiro
    • , Pedro B. Fernandes
    •  & Mariana G. Pinho

  • Article
    | Open Access

    During mitosis, mitochondria partition into daughter cells through microtubule-based transport. Here the authors show that the mitochondrial protein Miro and the cytoskeletal-associated protein Cenp-F interact in a cell-cycle dependent manner to promote microtubule-directed movement of mitochondria.

    • Gil Kanfer
    • , Thibault Courthéoux
    •  & Benoît Kornmann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The question of whether recombination rate increases with maternal age is controversial, with conflicting prior evidence. Here, Martin et al.analyse nine cohorts in the largest SNP-based analysis of this question and find a small positive increase with maternal age in the number of crossovers.

    • Hilary C. Martin
    • , Ryan Christ
    •  & Peter Donnelly

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chromosome condensation is a prerequisite for faithful segregation of chromosomes to daughter cells. Here, the authors show that the condensin complex binds to protein-coding genes in a transcription-dependent manner during condensation, and reduces unwound DNA segments generated by transcription.

    • Takashi Sutani
    • , Toyonori Sakata
    •  & Katsuhiko Shirahige

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In mammalian oocytes, the meiotic spindle is assembled close to the centre of the cell and relocates to the cell periphery prior to chromosome segregation. Here Metchat et al. show that anaphase is delayed until the spindle is positioned close to the cell cortex, providing evidence for a spindle position checkpoint.

    • Aïcha Metchat
    • , Manuel Eguren
    •  & Jan Ellenberg

  • Article |

    CEP63 is a centrosomal protein that is mutated in the microcephaly disease Seckel syndrome. Here the authors disrupt Cep63 in the mouse and find that neural progenitor cells undergo p53-dependent cell death, and uncover a role for CEP63 in ensuring correct meiotic recombination in male gametes.

    • Marko Marjanović
    • , Carlos Sánchez-Huertas
    •  & Travis H. Stracker

  • Article
    | Open Access

    TD-60 (RCC2) structurally resembles a guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF), but its target GTPase was unknown. Here Papini et al.show that TD-60 is a GEF for RalA, and that RalA helps to regulate the chromosomal passenger complex and kinetochore–microtubule interactions in mitosis.

    • Diana Papini
    • , Lars Langemeyer
    •  & William C. Earnshaw

  • Article
    | Open Access

    CENP-E regulates chromosome alignment during mitosis to distribute chromosomes equally into daughter cells. Here, the authors show that CENP-E inhibition causes p53-mediated post-mitotic apoptosis in tumours where the spindle assembly checkpoint is compromised, suggesting that CENP-E is a therapeutic target for these cancers.

    • Akihiro Ohashi
    • , Momoko Ohori
    •  & Kentaro Iwata

  • Article
    | Open Access

    As oocytes age the frequency of chromosome segregation errors during meiosis I increases. Here the authors use live imaging of oocytes from naturally aged mice to provide direct evidence that bivalent separation into univalents is the primary defect responsible for age-related aneuploidy.

    • Yogo Sakakibara
    • , Shu Hashimoto
    •  & Tomoya S. Kitajima

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Centrosome separation, promoted by the kinesin Eg5, is antagonized by the guanine nucleotide exchange factor Tiam1 through an unknown mechanism. Here Whalley et al. show that Tiam1 is phosphorylated by cyclin-dependent kinase 1 in prophase, leading to downstream activation of p21-activated kinases (PAKs).

    • Helen J. Whalley
    • , Andrew P. Porter
    •  & Angeliki Malliri

  • Article |

    The regulation of lumen formation and dimension is a key question in organ morphogenesis. Using the zebrafish inner ear as a model, here the authors show that the growth of a cavity depends on epithelial thinning and mitotic cell rounding.

    • Esteban Hoijman
    • , Davide Rubbini
    •  & Berta Alsina

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) depends on the recruitment of specific protein complexes to the kinetochore. Here Zhang et al. show that Bub1 recruits the RZZ complex and BubR1 to the kinetochore, and loss of the BubR1 binding sequence enhances checkpoint activity suggesting both SAC activating and silencing roles.

    • Gang Zhang
    • , Tiziana Lischetti
    •  & Jakob Nilsson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The evolutionarily conserved MTREC complex promotes degradation of meiotic mRNAs and regulatory ncRNAs. Here the authors show that MTREC also targets cryptic unstable transcripts and unspliced pre-mRNAs for degradation by the nuclear exosome, while the TRAMP complex has only a minor role in this process.

    • Yang Zhou
    • , Jianguo Zhu
    •  & Tamás Fischer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Planctomycetes appear to differ from all other bacteria in their cellular organization and their apparent lack of a peptidoglycan (PG) cell wall. Here Jeske et al. show that Planctomycetes do possess a typical PG cell wall and that their cellular architecture resembles that of Gram-negative bacteria.

    • Olga Jeske
    • , Margarete Schüler
    •  & Christian Jogler

  • Article |

    Angiogenesis is regulated by dynamic changes in endothelial cell contact. Here, the authors show that signals from endothelial cell junctions affect the subcellular localization and function of Yes-associated protein, ultimately modifying angiopoietin-2 expression and angiogenic activity of endothelial cells.

    • Hyun-Jung Choi
    • , Haiying Zhang
    •  & Young-Guen Kwon

  • Article |

    Aberrant oncogene expression can cause replication stress leading to chromosomal breaks. Here the authors map the chromosomal break loci induced by two different oncogenes and by a replication inhibitor, and show that each treatment induces a unique pattern of breaks in the same cell type.

    • Karin Miron
    • , Tamar Golan-Lev
    •  & Batsheva Kerem

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