Kinetochores articles within Nature Cell Biology

Featured

  • Article |

    Sissoko et al. show that CENP-T local concentration regulates its ability to recruit the outer kinetochore, which may restrict complete kinetochore formation to regions with higher-order inner kinetochore assemblies.

    • Gunter B. Sissoko
    • , Ekaterina V. Tarasovetc
    •  & Iain M. Cheeseman

  • News & Views |

    During mitosis, the kinetochore connects chromosomes to spindle microtubules and enables chromosome segregation. A genetic study in vertebrate cells demonstrates phosphorylation-regulated plasticity of kinetochore assembly and highlights the role of the centromere protein T in load-bearing kinetochore–microtubule attachment.

    • Yang Yang
    •  & Hongtao Yu

  • News & Views |

    Faithful genome segregation depends on the functions of the eukaryotic centromere, which is characterized by the histone variant CENP-A. Gene replacement in human cells and fission yeast has now been used to show how CENP-A biochemically encodes centromere identity, as well as reveal an unexpected role for CENP-B in centromere function.

    • Bradley T. French
    •  & Aaron F. Straight

  • Article |

    The centromere-specific histone H3 variant CENP-A is sufficient for centromere specification in many species. Cleveland and colleagues have used an elegant gene targeting strategy to define a two-step mechanism for how CENP-A acts in centromere targeting and kinetochore assembly and function.

    • Daniele Fachinetti
    • , H. Diego Folco
    •  & Don W. Cleveland

  • Article |

    Chromosome segregation requires the capture of kinetochores by microtubules, a process that in yeast mitosis is facilitated by kinetochores being tethered to spindle poles. Sato and colleagues find that in meiosis I, when kinetochores are not tethered to poles, a microtubule array associated with TACC (Alp7) and TOG proteins (Alp14 and Dis1) retrieves kinetochores in a Polo-kinase-dependent manner.

    • Yasutaka Kakui
    • , Masamitsu Sato
    •  & Masayuki Yamamoto

  • News & Views |

    To ensure proper attachment of all chromosomes to the spindle, PLK1 has to associate with kinetochores during prometaphase and must be released from these sites before sister chromatid separation can begin. The monoubiquitylation of PLK1 by the ubiquitin ligase CUL3–KLHL22 is now identified as a critical step in promoting the release of PLK1 from kinetochores, pushing non-proteolytic ubiquitylation into the limelight of cell division research.

    • Colleen A. McGourty
    •  & Michael Rape

  • Letter |

    To segregate chromosomes, spindle microtubules must attach to chromosomes through kinetochores, in a process involving several types of microtubule behaviour. Tolic-Norrelykke and colleagues find that fission yeast microtubules rapidly rotate around the spindle poles, and mathematical modelling confirms that this random microtubule movement facilitates kinetochore capture.

    • Iana Kalinina
    • , Amitabha Nandi
    •  & Iva M. Tolić-Nørrelykke

  • Letter |

    The kinase MPS1 is a conserved and essential component of the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC), but its relevant substrate in this context has remained uncertain. Watanabe and colleagues now show that, in fission yeast and human cells, MPS1 (Mph1 in fission yeast) phosphorylates the kinetochore protein KNL1 (Spc7), leading to kinetochore recruitment of BUB1, an event required for SAC activation.

    • Yuya Yamagishi
    • , Ching-Hui Yang
    •  & Yoshinori Watanabe

  • News & Views |

    The Ndc80 complex links spindle microtubules to the kinetochore to ensure the proper segregation of chromosomes during mitosis. Analysis of the replication licensing factor Cdt1 during mitosis now reveals a cooperative role with the Ndc80 complex in establishing stable microtubule attachments to the spindle.

    • Daniel R. Matson
    •  & P. Todd Stukenberg

  • Article |

    The kinetochore is a multiprotein complex that tethers chromosomes to the mitotic spindle for accurate chromosome segregation. De Wulf and colleagues now show in budding yeast that the protein Cnn1 functions at the kinetochore and is recruited to the inner kinetochore, in a manner dependent on its phosphorylation mediated by the Cdc28, Mps1 and Ipl1 kinases.

    • Lucy J. Bock
    • , Cinzia Pagliuca
    •  & Peter De Wulf

  • News & Views |

    In mitotic spindles, each sister chromatid is directly attached to a spindle pole through microtubule bundles known as kinetochore fibres. Microspherule protein 1 (MCRS1) is now shown to support spindle assembly by localizing to the minus ends of kinetochore fibres and protecting them from depolymerization.

    • Sabine Petry
    •  & Ronald D. Vale

  • Article |

    The spindle assembly checkpoint halts cell-cycle progression in the presence of unattached kinetochores by preventing activation of APC/C. Pines and colleagues find that APC15 has a critical role in regulating APC/C activation by promoting release of the inhibitory MCC complex from APC/C once the spindle assembly checkpoint is satisfied.

    • Jörg Mansfeld
    • , Philippe Collin
    •  & Jonathon Pines

  • Letter |

    The microtubules that attach kinetochores to chromosomes (K-fibres) are stabilized in prometaphase to allow for accurate chromosome segregation. Kapoor and colleagues find that the B56-PP2A phosphatase stabilizes K-fibres potentially by counteracting the phosphorylation of kinetochore substrates that is mediated by Aurora B and Plk1.

    • Emily A. Foley
    • , Maria Maldonado
    •  & Tarun M. Kapoor

  • Article |

    In most eukaryotes, the centromere is defined by epigenetic marks such as the histone H3 variant CENH3/CENP-A/CID. Ectopic induction of kinetochores in Drosophila S2 cells by CID overexpression leads to kinetochore assembly specifically in silent intergenic regions bordering heterochomratin, demonstrating a role for these domains in centromere identity.

    • Agata M. Olszak
    • , Dominic van Essen
    •  & Patrick Heun

  • News & Views |

    Kinetochores link microtubules to DNA and provide force critical for chromosome segregation in mitosis. New data show that kinetochores are not necessary for acentrosomal meiotic chromosome segregation in Caenorhabditis elegans. Instead, CLS-2 (CLASP) generates a mid-zone bundle of microtubules that are suggested to act in pushing the chromosomes apart.

    • Xue Han
    •  & Martin Srayko

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