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Updated: Jul 14, 2026

Assaying the Ability of Diffusible Signaling Molecules to Reorient Embryonic Spinal Commissural Axons
Published on: March 8, 2010
Spatial coordination of spindle assembly by chromosome-mediated signaling gradients
Maïwen Caudron1, Gertrude Bunt, Philippe Bastiaens
1Cell Biology and Biophysics Department, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), EMBL, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
Abstract:
During cell division, chromosomes are distributed to daughter cells by the mitotic spindle. This system requires spatial cues to reproducibly self-organize. We report that such cues are provided by chromosome-mediated interaction gradients between the small guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) Ran and importin-beta. This produces activity gradients that determine the spatial distribution of microtubule nucleation and stabilization around chromosomes and that are essential for the self-organization of microtubules into a bipolar spindle.
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