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Published Online October 23, 2008
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1161820

Reports

Submitted on June 16, 2008
Accepted on October 6, 2008

Regulation of Microtubule Dynamics by Reaction Cascades Around Chromosomes

Chaitanya A. Athale 1, Ana Dinarina 1, Maria Mora-Coral 1, Céline Pugieux 1, Francois Nedelec 1, Eric Karsenti 1*

1 Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit, EMBL, Meyerhofstrasse 1, Heidelberg, Germany.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Eric Karsenti , E-mail: karsenti{at}embl.de

During spindle assembly, chromosomes generate gradients of microtubule stabilization through a reaction-diffusion process, but how this is achieved is not well understood. We have measured the spatial distribution of microtubule aster asymmetry around chromosomes by incubating centrosomes and micro-patterned chromatin patches in frog egg extracts. We then screened for microtubule stabilization gradient shapes that would generate such spatial distributions using computer simulations. Only a long-range sharply decaying microtubule stabilization gradient could generate aster asymmetries fitting the experimental data. We propose a reaction diffusion model that combines the chromosome generated Ran-GTP-Importin reaction network to a secondary phosphorylation network as a potential mechanism for the generation of such gradients.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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Computer simulations predict that chromosome movements and rotations accelerate mitotic spindle assembly without compromising accuracy.
R. Paul, R. Wollman, W. T. Silkworth, I. K. Nardi, D. Cimini, and A. Mogilner (2009)
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)