The Role of the Centrosome in Development and Progression of Breast Cancer

2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (S2) ◽  
pp. 582-583
Author(s):  
W. Lingle ◽  
J. Salisbury ◽  
S. Barrett ◽  
V. Negron ◽  
C. Whitehead

The centrosome is the major microtubule organizing center in most mammalian cells, and as such it determines the number, polarity, and spatial distribution of microtubules (MTs). Interphase MTs, together with actin and intermediate filaments, constitute the cell's cytoskeleton, which dynamically maintains cell polarity and tissue architecture. Interphase cells begin Gl of the cell cycle with one centrosome. During S phase, the centrosome duplicates concomitantly with DNA replication. Duplicated centrosomes usually remain in close proximity to one another until late G2, at which time they separate and then move during prophase to become the poles that organize the bipolar mitotic spindle. During the G2/M transition, interphase MTs depolymerize and a new population of highly dynamic mitotic MTs are nucleated at the spindle poles. The bipolar mitotic spindle apparatus constitutes the machinery that partitions and separates sister chromatids equally between two daughter cells.

1986 ◽  
Vol 103 (5) ◽  
pp. 1863-1872 ◽  
Author(s):  
P R Sager ◽  
N L Rothfield ◽  
J M Oliver ◽  
R D Berlin

Several unique aspects of mitotic spindle formation have been revealed by investigation of an autoantibody present in the serum of a patient with the CREST (calcinosis, Raynaud's phenomenon, esophageal dysmotility, schlerodacytyly, and telangiectasias) syndrome. This antibody was previously shown to label at the spindle poles of metaphase and anaphase cells and to be absent from interphase cells. We show here that the serum stained discrete cytoplasmic foci in early prophase cells and only later localized to the spindle poles. The cytoplasmic distribution of the antigen was also seen in nocodazole-arrested cells and prophase cells in populations treated with taxol. In normal and taxol-treated cells, the microtubules appeared to emanate from the cytoplasmic foci and polar stain, and in cells released from nocodazole block, microtubules regrew from antigen-containing centers. This characteristic distribution suggests that the antigen is part of a microtubule organizing center. Thus, we propose that a prophase originating polar antigen functions in spindle pole organization as a coalescing microtubule organizing center that is present only during mitosis. Characterization of the serum showed reactions with multiple proteins at 115, 110, 50, 36, 30, and 28 kD. However, affinity-eluted antibody from the 115/110-kD bands was shown to specifically label the spindle pole and cytosolic foci in prophase cells.


Author(s):  
Marcus A Begley ◽  
April L Solon ◽  
Elizabeth Mae Davis ◽  
Michael Grant Sherrill ◽  
Ryoma Ohi ◽  
...  

The mitotic spindle, a self-constructed microtubule-based machine, segregates chromosomes during cell division. In mammalian cells, microtubule bundles called kinetochore-fibers (k-fibers) connect chromosomes to the spindle poles. Chromosome segregation thus depends on the mechanical integrity of k-fibers. Here, we investigate the physical and molecular basis of k-fiber bundle cohesion. We detach k-fibers from poles by laser ablation-based cutting, thus revealing the contribution of pole-localized forces to k-fiber cohesion. We then measure the physical response of the remaining kinetochore-bound segments of the k-fibers. We observe that microtubules within ablated k-fibers often splay apart from their minus-ends. Furthermore, we find that minus-end clustering forces induced by ablation seem at least partially responsible for k-fiber splaying. We also investigate the role of the k-fiber-binding kinesin-12 Kif15. We find that pharmacological inhibition of Kif15-microtubule binding reduces the mechanical integrity of k-fibers. In contrast, inhibition of its motor activity but not its microtubule binding ability, i.e., locking Kif15 into a rigor state, does not greatly affect splaying. Altogether, the data suggest that forces holding k-fibers together are of similar magnitude to other spindle forces, and that Kif15, acting as a microtubule crosslinker, helps fortify and repair k-fibers. This feature of Kif15 may help support robust k-fiber function and prevent chromosome segregation errors. [Media: see text] [Media: see text] [Media: see text]


1996 ◽  
Vol 109 (13) ◽  
pp. 3103-3112 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Kalt ◽  
M. Schliwa

The microtubule-organizing center of D. discoideum is a nucleus-associated body (NAB) that consists of a multilayered, box-shaped core embedded in an amorphous corona from which the microtubules emerge. The composition of the NAB is still largely unresolved. Here we have examined a high molecular mass component of the NAB which was identified by a monoclonal antibody raised against isolated nucleus/NAB complexes. This antibody recognized a 350 kDa component which is immunologically related to the D. discoideum heavy chain of myosin II. The 350 kDa antigen was localized only at the NAB in interphase cells, while in mitotic cells it may also be found in the vicinity of the NAB as well as in association with the mitotic spindle. Immunogold labeling experiments showed that the protein is part of the NAB corona. This association was not destroyed by treatment with 2 M urea or 0.6 M KCl. The 350 kDa antigen was part of the thiabendazole-induced cytoplasmic microtubule-organizing centers. A direct role in the polymerization of tubulin could not be determined in an in vitro microtubule nucleation assay, whereas antibody electroporation of live cells appeared to interfere with the generation of a normal microtubule system in a subset of cells. Our observations suggest that the 350 kDa antigen is a structural component of the NAB corona which could be involved in its stabilization.


F1000Research ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Flavia Serpico ◽  
Domenico Grieco

The goal of mitosis is to form two daughter cells each containing one copy of each mother cell chromosome, replicated in the previous S phase. To achieve this, sister chromatids held together back-to-back at their primary constriction, the centromere, have to interact with microtubules of the mitotic spindle so that each chromatid takes connections with microtubules emanating from opposite spindle poles (we will refer to this condition as bipolar attachment). Only once all replicated chromosomes have reached bipolar attachments can sister chromatids lose cohesion with each other, at the onset of anaphase, and move toward opposite spindle poles, being segregated into what will soon become the daughter cell nucleus. Prevention of errors in chromosome segregation is granted by a safeguard mechanism called Spindle Assembly Checkpoint (SAC). Until all chromosomes are bipolarly oriented at the equator of the mitotic spindle, the SAC prevents loss of sister chromatid cohesion, thus anaphase onset, and maintains the mitotic state by inhibiting inactivation of the major M phase promoting kinase, the cyclin B-cdk1 complex (Cdk1). Here, we review recent mechanistic insights about the circuitry that links Cdk1 to the SAC to ensure correct achievement of the goal of mitosis.


2009 ◽  
Vol 184 (3) ◽  
pp. 391-397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jen-Hsuan Wei ◽  
Joachim Seemann

The mammalian Golgi ribbon disassembles during mitosis and reforms in both daughter cells after division. Mitotic Golgi membranes concentrate around the spindle poles, suggesting that the spindle may control Golgi partitioning. To test this, cells were induced to divide asymmetrically with the entire spindle segregated into only one daughter cell. A ribbon reforms in the nucleated karyoplasts, whereas the Golgi stacks in the cytoplasts are scattered. However, the scattered Golgi stacks are polarized and transport cargo. Microinjection of Golgi extract together with tubulin or incorporation of spindle materials rescues Golgi ribbon formation. Therefore, the factors required for postmitotic Golgi ribbon assembly are transferred by the spindle, but the constituents of functional stacks are partitioned independently, suggesting that Golgi inheritance is regulated by two distinct mechanisms.


2005 ◽  
Vol 360 (1455) ◽  
pp. 553-568 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.D Salmon ◽  
D Cimini ◽  
L.A Cameron ◽  
J.G DeLuca

Merotelic kinetochore attachment is a major source of aneuploidy in mammalian tissue cells in culture. Mammalian kinetochores typically have binding sites for about 20–25 kinetochore microtubules. In prometaphase, kinetochores become merotelic if they attach to microtubules from opposite poles rather than to just one pole as normally occurs. Merotelic attachments support chromosome bi-orientation and alignment near the metaphase plate and they are not detected by the mitotic spindle checkpoint. At anaphase onset, sister chromatids separate, but a chromatid with a merotelic kinetochore may not be segregated correctly, and may lag near the spindle equator because of pulling forces toward opposite poles, or move in the direction of the wrong pole. Correction mechanisms are important for preventing segregation errors. There are probably more than 100 times as many PtK1 tissue cells with merotelic kinetochores in early mitosis, and about 16 times as many entering anaphase as the 1% of cells with lagging chromosomes seen in late anaphase. The role of spindle mechanics and potential functions of the Ndc80/Nuf2 protein complex at the kinetochore/microtubule interface is discussed for two correction mechanisms: one that functions before anaphase to reduce the number of kinetochore microtubules to the wrong pole, and one that functions after anaphase onset to move merotelic kinetochores based on the ratio of kinetochore microtubules to the correct versus incorrect pole.


1993 ◽  
Vol 104 (4) ◽  
pp. 1119-1127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Q. Zhu ◽  
T. Liu ◽  
M. Clarke

In amoebae of the eukaryotic microorganism Dictyostelium discoideum, calmodulin is greatly enriched on membranes of the contractile vacuole complex, an osmoregulatory organelle. Antibodies specific for Dictyostelium calmodulin were used in the present study to immunolocalize the contractile vacuole complex in relation to the Golgi complex (detected with wheat germ agglutinin) and the microtubule organizing center (MTOC, detected with anti-tubulin antibodies). Cells were examined throughout the cell cycle. Double-staining experiments indicated that the contractile vacuole complex extended to the MTOC in interphase cells, usually, but not always, overlapping the Golgi complex. In metaphase and anaphase cells, the Golgi staining became diffuse, suggesting dispersal of Golgi membranes. In the same mitotic cells, anti-calmodulin antibodies labeled numerous small cortical vacuoles, indicating that the contractile vacuole complex had also become dispersed. When living mitotic cells were examined, the small cortical vacuoles were seen to be active, implying that all parts of the Dictyostelium contractile vacuole complex possess the ability to accumulate fluid and fuse with the plasma membrane. In contrast to observations reported for other types of cells, anti-calmodulin antibodies did not label the mitotic spindle in Dictyostelium. Despite this difference in localization, it is possible that vacuole-associated calmodulin in Dictyostelium cells and spindle-associated calmodulin in larger eukaryotic cells might perform a similar function, namely, regulating calcium levels.


2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (13) ◽  
pp. 2051-2060 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Sophia Gayek ◽  
Ryoma Ohi

The mitotic spindle is a bipolar, microtubule (MT)-based cellular machine that segregates the duplicated genome into two daughter cells. The kinesin-5 Eg5 establishes the bipolar geometry of the mitotic spindle, but previous work in mammalian cells suggested that this motor is unimportant for the maintenance of spindle bipolarity. Although it is known that Kif15, a second mitotic kinesin, enforces spindle bipolarity in the absence of Eg5, how Kif15 functions in this capacity and/or whether other biochemical or physical properties of the spindle promote its bipolarity have been poorly studied. Here we report that not all human cell lines can efficiently maintain bipolarity without Eg5, despite their expressing Kif15. We show that the stability of chromosome-attached kinetochore-MTs (K-MTs) is important for bipolar spindle maintenance without Eg5. Cells that efficiently maintain bipolar spindles without Eg5 have more stable K-MTs than those that collapse without Eg5. Consistent with this observation, artificial destabilization of K-MTs promotes spindle collapse without Eg5, whereas stabilizing K-MTs improves bipolar spindle maintenance without Eg5. Our findings suggest that either rapid K-MT turnover pulls poles inward or slow K-MT turnover allows for greater resistance to inward-directed forces.


1983 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 445-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
M C Willingham ◽  
J Wehland ◽  
C B Klee ◽  
N D Richert ◽  
A V Rutherford ◽  
...  

Using an antibody prepared against performic acid-treated calmodulin, we have localized calmodulin in cultured fibroblastic cells by immunofluorescence and immunoelectron microscopy. In interphase cells, calmodulin was found to be diffusely distributed throughout the cytosol. An increased amount of calmodulin was found in the pericentriolar region of interphase cells. No significant aggregation of calmodulin was found in association with microfilaments, peripheral cytoplasmic microtubules or clathrin-coated structures. Calmodulin was present in moderate amounts in microvilli, ruffles, and zeiotic blebs of the cell surface. In motitic cells, calmodulin was found concentrated in the pericentriolar region, and appeared to concentrate along radiating spindle microtubules proximal to the centrioles. Redistribution of calmodulin was seen between early and late telophase, in which the pericentriolar pattern of calmodulin in early telophase shifted to an aggregation on the intercellular bridge, with a large part of the midbody portion of the bridge being devoid of calmodulin. These results show that calmodulin is distributed throughout the cytosol, but is markedly concentrated in the region of the microtubule organizing center in interphase cells, as well as in elements of the mitotic spindle apparatus. This distribution suggests that calmodulin has a regulatory role in the organization and function of microtubules during interphase, as well as during mitosis.


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