spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Baskin, T. I.
Right arrow Articles by Cande, W. Z.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Baskin, T. I.
Right arrow Articles by Cande, W. Z.

Journal of Cell Science, Vol 97, Issue 1 79-89, Copyright © 1990 by Company of Biologists

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Kinetic analysis of mitotic spindle elongation in vitro

TI Baskin and WZ Cande
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley 94720.

Studies of mitotic spindle elongation in vitro using populations of diatom spindles visualized with immunofluorescence microscopy have shown that the two interdigitating half-spindles are driven apart by an ATP-dependent process that generates force in the zone of overlap between half-spindles. To characterize further the system responsible for spindle elongation, we observed spindle elongation directly with polarized light or phase-contrast video-microscopy. We report that the kinetics of spindle elongation versus time are linear. A constant rate of spindle elongation occurs despite the continuous decrease in length of the zone of overlap between half-spindles. The average rate of spindle elongation varies as a function of treatment, and rates measured match spindle elongation rates measured in vivo. When spindles elongated in the presence of polymerizing tubulin (from bovine brain), the extent of elongation was greater than the original zone of half-spindle overlap, but the rate of elongation was constant. No component of force due to tubulin polymerization was found. The total elongation observed in the presence of added tubulin could exceed a doubling of original spindle length, matching the elongation in the intact diatom. The linear rate of spindle elongation in vitro suggests that the force transducer for anaphase B is a mechanochemical ATPase, analogous to dynein or myosin, and that the force for spindle elongation does not arise from stored energy, e.g. in an elastic matrix in the midzone. Additionally, on the basis of observations described here, we conclude that the force-transduction system for spindle elongation must be able to remain in the zone of microtubule overlap during the sliding apart of half-spindles, and that the transducer can generate force between microtubules that are not strictly antiparallel.


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Plant Physiol.Home page
M. Yang and H. Ma
Male Meiotic Spindle Lengths in Normal and Mutant Arabidopsis Cells
Plant Physiology, June 1, 2001; 126(2): 622 - 630.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Cell Biol.Home page
F. Severin, B. Habermann, T. Huffaker, and T. Hyman
Stu2 Promotes Mitotic Spindle Elongation in Anaphase
J. Cell Biol., April 16, 2001; 153(2): 435 - 442.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


© The Company of Biologists Ltd 1990