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Can molecular cell biology explain chromosome motions?
Daniel H Shain1, L John Gagliardi
1Department of Biology, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, 315 Penn St., Camden, NJ 08102, USA. dshain@camden.rutgers.edu
Background:
Mitotic chromosome motions have recently been correlated with electrostatic forces, but a lingering "molecular cell biology" paradigm persists, proposing binding and release proteins or molecular geometries for force generation.
Results:
Pole-facing kinetochore plates manifest positive charges and interact with negatively charged microtubule ends providing the motive force for poleward chromosome motions by classical electrostatics. This conceptual scheme explains dynamic tracking/coupling of kinetochores to microtubules and the simultaneous depolymerization of kinetochore microtubules as poleward force is generated.
Conclusion:
We question here why cells would prefer complex molecular mechanisms to move chromosomes when direct electrostatic interactions between known bound charge distributions can accomplish the same task much more simply.
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