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Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Examination of Mitotic and Meiotic Fission Yeast Nuclear Dynamics by Fluorescence Live-cell Microscopy
Published on: June 24, 2019
The fission yeast spindle orientation checkpoint: a model that generates tension?
Yannick Gachet1, Céline Reyes, Sherilyn Goldstone
1LBCMCP-CNRS UMR5088, Institut d'Exploration Fonctionelle des Génomes (IFR109), Université Paul Sabatier, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse, France.
Abstract:
In all eukaryotes, the alignment of the mitotic spindle with the axis of cell polarity is essential for accurate chromosome segregation as well as for the establishment of cell fate, and thus morphogenesis, during development. Studies in invertebrates, higher eukaryotes and yeast suggest that astral microtubules interact with the cell cortex to position the spindle. These microtubules are thought to impose pushing or pulling forces on the spindle poles to affect the rotation or movement of the spindle. In the fission yeast model, where cell division is symmetrical, spindle rotation is dependent on the interaction of astral microtubules with the cortical actin cytoskeleton. In these cells, a bub1-dependent mitotic checkpoint, the spindle orientation checkpoint (SOC), is activated when the spindles fail to align with the cell polarity axis. In this paper we review the mechanism that orientates the spindle during mitosis in fission yeast, and discuss the consequences of misorientation on metaphase progression.
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