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Updated: Feb 11, 2026

High-resolution Imaging and Analysis of Individual Astral Microtubule Dynamics in Budding Yeast
Published on: April 20, 2017
Structure of the DASH/Dam1 complex shows its role at the yeast kinetochore-microtubule interface
Simon Jenni1, Stephen C Harrison2,3
1Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, 250 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Abstract:
Kinetochores connect mitotic-spindle microtubules with chromosomes, allowing microtubule depolymerization to pull chromosomes apart during anaphase while resisting detachment as the microtubule shortens. The heterodecameric DASH/Dam1 complex (DASH/Dam1c), an essential component of yeast kinetochores, assembles into a microtubule-encircling ring. The ring associates with rodlike Ndc80 complexes to organize the kinetochore-microtubule interface. We report the cryo-electron microscopy structure (at ~4.5-angstrom resolution) of a DASH/Dam1c ring and a molecular model of its ordered components, validated by evolutionary direct-coupling analysis. Integrating this structure with that of the Ndc80 complex and with published interaction data yields a molecular picture of kinetochore-microtubule attachment, including how flexible, C-terminal extensions of DASH/Dam1c subunits project and contact widely separated sites on the Ndc80 complex rod and how phosphorylation at previously identified sites might regulate kinetochore assembly.
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