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Updated: Jul 28, 2026

Live Cell Imaging of Chromosome Segregation During Mitosis
Published on: March 14, 2018
Separating sister chromatids
1IMP Research Institute of Molecular Pathology, Dr. Bohr-Gasse 7, A-1030 Vienna, Austria. Nasmyth@nt.imp.univie.ac.at
Abstract:
Loss of cohesion between sister chromatids triggers their segregation during anaphase. Recent work has identified both a cohesin complex that holds sisters together and a sister-separating protein, separin, that destroys cohesion. Separins are bound by inhibitory proteins whose proteolysis at the metaphase-anaphase transition is mediated by the anaphase-promoting complex and its activator protein CDC20 (APCCDC20). When chromosomes are misaligned, a surveillance mechanism (checkpoint) blocks sister separation by inhibiting APCCDC20. Defects in this apparatus are implicated in causing aneuploidy in human cells.
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