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The spindle checkpoint: attachment, tension and signalling

The spindle assembly checkpoint ensures that chromosomes segregate correctly at mitosis, delaying anaphase until they are all attached and aligned at the equatorial plane. Central to this checkpoint are kinetochores — proteinaceous complexes that link chromatids to spindle microtubules and seem somehow able to alert the cell if improperly attached. In a Commentary on p. 3547, Harish Joshi and co-workers discuss how the checkpoint signals and what it actually monitors. Recent studies indicate that the checkpoint component Mad2 dynamically associates with and is activated by unattached kinetochores. As part of a mitotic checkpoint complex (MCC) containing BubR1 and Bub3, Mad2 then appears to interact with another protein, Cdc20, to inhibit the anaphase-promoting complex (APC) that drives sister chromatid separation. Other work has focused on whether it is simply kinetochore attachment or the tension created by binding of kinetochore pairs to microtubules emanating from opposite poles that inactivates checkpoint signalling. Although this issue is by no means settled, Joshi and co-workers believe there is strong evidence that both mechanisms operate and that Mad2 and Bub1/BubR1 monitor attachment and tension, respectively.

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Attachment and tension in the spindle assembly checkpoint

Jun Zhou, Joyce Yao, and Harish C. Joshi
JCS 2002 115: 3547-3555. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JCS Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?