Spindle-dependent partitioning of the Golgi ribbon

During mitosis, the Golgi apparatus needs to be divided into the daughter cells. To achieve successful division, the single continuous Golgi ribbon is disassembled in early mitosis into vesicular and tubular membranes, which upon segregation fuse to reform a functional Golgi complex in telophase. Although the process of Golgi division has been well described, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. The observation that Golgi membranes accumulate around the spindle poles implies a role of the mitotic spindle in Golgi partitioning. By inducing asymmetrical cell division where the spindle goes into only one of the daughter cells, we have recently shown that the inheritance of a continuous Golgi ribbon critically relies on the mitotic spindle, while membranes sufficient to reassemble polarized, functional Golgi stacks are inherited independently.