Microtubule and mitosis dynamics

Microtubules are dynamic protein filaments that assemble into the mitotic spindle, the cellular machinery responsible for pulling duplicated chromosomes apart into two daughter cells with precisely equal genetic content. When this process goes wrong — because molecular motors like kinesins misregulate spindle tension, or kinases such as Aurora A and B fail to coordinate the mitotic checkpoint — cells can exit division with the wrong chromosome number, a condition called aneuploidy that is a hallmark of cancer. Researchers are working to understand exactly how the checkpoint machinery senses and corrects attachment errors in real time, and how chronic chromosomal instability feeds tumor evolution rather than simply killing aberrant cells. These mechanistic questions carry direct therapeutic weight, since several cancer drugs already target microtubule dynamics, and spindle-associated kinases are active targets for next-generation treatments.

Works

112,088

Total citations

2,735,113

Keywords

MicrotubulesCell DivisionMitotic CheckpointMolecular MotorsAneuploidyKinesin Proteins