Ki-67 acts as a biological surfactant to disperse mitotic chromosomes.

ABSTRACT: Eukaryotic genomes are partitioned into chromosomes that form compact and spatially well-separated mechanical bodies during mitosis. This enables chromosomes to move independently of each other for segregation of precisely one copy of the genome to each of the nascent daughter cells. Despite insights into the spatial organization of mitotic chromosomes and the discovery of proteins at the chromosome surface, the molecular and biophysical bases of mitotic chromosome structural individuality have remained unclear. Here we report that the proliferation marker protein Ki-67 (encoded by the MKI67 gene), a component of the mitotic chromosome periphery, prevents chromosomes from collapsing into a single chromatin mass after nuclear envelope disassembly, thus enabling independent chromosome motili

SUBMITTER: Cuylen S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4947524 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature