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Credit: C. L. Rieder and A. Khodjakov, Science 300, 91 (2003)
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Advances in our understanding of mitosis -- the replication of the cell's chromosomes, and its subsequent division into two identical daughter cells -- are historically linked to technological progress. Fluorescence microscopy has produced an explosion of information about the cell's mitotic apparatus and chemistry. Here, immunofluoresence light microscopy allows imaging of mitosis in fixed newt lung cells stained with antibodies to reveal the microtubules (green) and with a dye to reveal the chromosomes (blue). Since 1980, this technique has revealed more than 20 proteins associated with kinetochores -- small organelles that facilitate chromosome separation. C. L. Rieder and A. Khodjakov, in a review in Science's 4 April 2003 special issue, explore advances in imaging live dividing cells.
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