Mitotic spindle articles from across Nature Portfolio

Mild replication stress leads to premature centriole disengagement while delaying mitotic onset. Here, Dwivedi et al. demonstrate that this results from sub-critical Plk1 kinase activity, enabling centrosome cycling but impeding rapid mitotic entry.

Microtubules need to be generated during cell division to build mitotic or meiotic spindles. Here, reconstitution experiments and theoretical modeling show that chromosomes alone can trigger branching microtubule nucleation.

Many microtubules in the mitotic spindle are made through microtubule branching. Here, the authors report a structural model of the augmin complex and insights into its role in microtubule branching.

Spindle assembly during cell division requires self-organization of microtubules into a complex, bipolar structure that directs the movement of chromosomes. Recent advances reveal the emergent properties of the spindle, most importantly its mechanical features, that facilitate robust assembly and chromosome segregation.

In this Tools of the Trade article, Manuela Richter (Dumont lab) describes a method to probe mechanisms of cytoskeletal network re-organization that uses a targeted laser to both trigger network remodelling and track network dynamics.

Cell division critically requires amplification of microtubules (MTs) in the bipolar mitotic spindle. This relies on the filamentous augmin complex that enables MT branching. Studies by Gabel et al., Zupa et al. and Travis et al. describe consistent integrated atomic models of the extraordinarily flexible augmin complex. Their work prompts the question: what is this flexibility really needed for?

Susana Godinho discusses a 1996 paper by Heald et al. on the organization of microtubules into bipolar spindles.

The Hippo signalling pathway regulates spindle orientation and asymmetric cell division