In vivo mitotic spindle scaling can be modulated by changing the levels of a single protein: the microtubule polymerase XMAP215.

ABSTRACT: In many organisms, early embryonic development is characterized by a series of reductive cell divisions that result in rapid increases in cell number and concomitant decreases in cell size. Intracellular organelles, such as the nucleus and mitotic spindle, also become progressively smaller during this developmental window, but the molecular and mechanistic underpinnings of these scaling relationships are not fully understood. For the mitotic spindle, changes in cytoplasmic volume are sufficient to account for size scaling during early development in certain organisms. This observation is consistent with models that evoke a limiting component, whereby the smaller absolute number of spindle components in smaller cells limits spindle size. Here we investigate the role of a candidate factor fo

SUBMITTER: Milunovic-Jevtic A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5994900 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature