Biomaterial Database

Mitotic organization and force generation by assembly/disassembly of microtubules. 1996

S Inoué

Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.

The sites and roles of microtubule assembly/disassembly in mitosis are reviewed, together with evidence that microtubule assembly can push, and disassembly can pull, organelles such as the kinetochore on chromosomes which remain attached to the assembling or disassembling end of the microtubule, in vivo and in vitro. Motor proteins with weakened or inhibited transport activity can bind objects to the assembling or disassembling microtubule end, and may be involved in the dynamic attachment of the kinetochore to the spindle microtubules in mitosis.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008870	Microtubules	Slender, cylindrical filaments found in the cytoskeleton of plant and animal cells. They are composed of the protein TUBULIN and are influenced by TUBULIN MODULATORS.	Microtubule
D008938	Mitosis	A type of CELL NUCLEUS division by means of which the two daughter nuclei normally receive identical complements of the number of CHROMOSOMES of the somatic cells of the species.	M Phase, Mitotic,Mitotic M Phase,M Phases, Mitotic,Mitoses,Mitotic M Phases,Phase, Mitotic M,Phases, Mitotic M
D002875	Chromosomes	In a prokaryotic cell or in the nucleus of a eukaryotic cell, a structure consisting of or containing DNA which carries the genetic information essential to the cell. (From Singleton & Sainsbury, Dictionary of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, 2d ed)	Chromosome
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D018386	Kinetochores	Large multiprotein complexes that bind the centromeres of the chromosomes to the microtubules of the mitotic spindle during metaphase in the cell cycle.	Kinetochore