Regulation of kinetochore configuration during mitosis

Successful proliferation and function of an organism relies on the equal segregation of its genetic material during cell division. Duplicate sister chromatids need to accurately segregate at mitosis. Precise segregation depends on a multicomplex protein structure called the kinetochore. The kinetochore assembles at centromeres and attaches to microtubules to segregate sister chromatids. Even though the kinetochore structure was first observed nearly a century ago, many aspects of the regulation, function and assembly of this large 100 + protein structure remain to be determined. Improved microscopy and proteomics techniques over the years have helped to reveal the structure, composition and localization of sub-modules of the kinetochore. Recent work suggests that the configuration of the kinetochore is plastic, with extra submodules being added during anaphase to support microtubule tracking and chromosome segregation. We discuss our perspective of how this process might be regulated.