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Related Experiment Videos

Slide-and-cluster models for spindle assembly.

Kendra S Burbank1, Timothy J Mitchison, Daniel S Fisher

  • 1Department of Physics, Harvard University, 17 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02140, USA. burbank@post.harvrd.edu

Current Biology : CB
|August 19, 2007
PubMed
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A new slide-and-cluster model explains how two types of molecular motors and microtubule nucleation organize cell division spindles. This model successfully predicts and explains spindle structure and dynamics, validated in experiments.

Area of Science:

  • Cell Biology
  • Biophysics
  • Molecular Motors

Background:

  • Spindle formation is crucial for cell division, involving microtubule (MT) assemblies that segregate chromosomes.
  • The precise mechanisms by which MTs and motor proteins self-organize into dynamic bipolar spindles remain unclear.
  • Previous research explored MT-motor interactions and motor competition, but a comprehensive model for spindle organization was lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To elucidate the self-organization mechanism of bipolar spindle formation.
  • To investigate the roles of two distinct motor types and MT nucleation in spindle assembly.
  • To develop a theoretical model explaining spindle structure and dynamics.

Main Methods:

  • Development of a mathematical 'slide-and-cluster' model incorporating MT nucleation, plus-end motor sliding, minus-end motor clustering, and MT dynamic instability.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Application of the model to non-kinetochore MTs in anastral spindles and potentially interpolar MTs in astral spindles.
  • Experimental validation of model predictions using Xenopus egg extracts.

    • Main Results:

    • The slide-and-cluster model robustly generates bipolar spindles with defined poles and stable lengths.
    • The model successfully explains previously puzzling experimental observations in spindle assembly.
    • Three key predictions derived from the model were experimentally verified in Xenopus egg extracts, including MT sliding dynamics near spindle poles.

    Conclusions:

    • A simple two-motor system, coupled with MT nucleation, can robustly assemble stable bipolar spindles.
    • This work presents the first self-contained model for anastral spindle assembly and MT poleward flux.
    • Experimental findings strongly support the slide-and-cluster model, particularly the predicted slowing of MT sliding at spindle poles.