Scientists deconstruct cell division

... have tried for years to unravel the process of spindle assembly. Now, researchers at Carnegie's ... are essential to regulate assembly of the spindle matrix. "The mechanisms that cells use during ... adult tissues, such as skin and bones. Forming a spindle requires the assembly of a 'skeleton' from ...

Oosight microscope enables embryonic stem cell breakthrough

... team to clearly see and remove the meiotic spindle (and the attached genetic material) from 304 ... the problem was always that you could not see the spindle in the egg, Mitalipov says. The only way to see ... polarized light technology to image the spindle noninvasively, with high contrast and quality. ...

A unique arrangement for egg cell division

... the correct number of chromosomes is a bipolar spindle consisting of protein filaments, called microtubules that are part of the cells skeleton. spindle microtubules attach themselves to the ... They predetermine the bipolar structure of the spindle that is essential to extrude exactly half of the ...

Slicing chromosomes leads to new insights into cell division

... through mitosis, during which the DNA-containing chromosomes separate between the resulting daughter cells. Forces in a structure called the mitotic spindle guide the replicated chromosomes to opposing sides as one cell eventually becomes two. "Each cell needs the right number of chromosomes. It's ...

Dartmouth researchers find new protein function

... own, it hitches a ride on the ends of microtubules which results in a dynamic cross-linking between the arms of chromosomes and the cell's growing spindle of microtubules. If NOD doesn't function properly, then the two cells end up with either both or none of that particular chromosome, which is lethal ...

How chemo kills tumors: research to reduce side effects

... published in the journal Cancer Cell (August 2008), have shown how different tumours respond to the anti-mitotic drugs which target the mitotic spindle (the structure that separates the chromosomes during cell division) and revealed that the variation in cell behaviour was far greater than ...

Analysis of RNA role in spreading disease advances study of damaging plant infections

... look at all of the loops of a viroid RNA and see how each one functions, Ding said. The viroid model used for this research is called the Potato spindle tuber viroid, and its infection was studied in a tobacco-like plant called Nicotiana benthamiana for the experiment. Lead study author Xuehua Zhong, ...

Green algae -- the nexus of plant/animal ancestry

... lineages. The flagella are equivalent to the cilia and centrioles in animal cells. Centrioles are structures involved in cell division; they form a spindle apparatus, which helps separate genetic material into two new cells during mitosis. Cilia are important to many animal functions. The study ...

Two central mysteries in genome inheritance solved at UCSD

... cell discriminate between correct and incorrect spindle connections, and shuts down the pulling process ... cells," said Desai. Chromosomes connect to the spindle microtubule polymers during this time, and ... of two proteins that bridges chromosomes and spindle microtubules and is required to detect ...

Humpback whales have brain cells also found in humans

... The other notable feature was the presence of spindle cells in the humpback cortex in areas comparable ... the whale brain as well. Although the function of spindle neurons is not well understood, they are thought ... brain disorders such as autism and schizophrenia. spindle neurons were also found in the same location in ...

New egg freezing technique offers hope to hundreds of women

... the egg during freeze-thawing, in particular to a part called the meiotic spindle which is involved in cell division. The meiotic spindle is a bundle of microtubules, some of which become attached to chromosomes, ...

Measuring Enzymes At End Of Cancer Pathway Predicts Outcome Of Tarceva, Taxol

... that the primary effect of the drug is to interfere with assembly of the spindle that pulls nuclear chromosomes apart during cell division, Ueno and his ... if something goes wrong during division - such as if Taxol is interrupting spindle assembly - CDK will become more active in an attempt to correct the ...

Researchers shed light on shrinking of chromosomes

... the cell to block the late condensation, more separation defects appeared. “Sometimes chromosomes get stuck and cannot be fully separated by the spindle that normally distributes them into the daughter cells,” says Felipe Mora-Bermúdez, who carried out the experiments in Ellenberg’s lab, “we think ...

Molecular motors and brakes work together in cells

... Biology. "This study lets us have a more complete picture." Microtubules are structures that help give shape to many types of cells, form the spindle -- a structure important in cell division -- and act as a railroad, of sorts, upon which molecular motors move protein packages for waste removal and ...

Key mechanism in genetic inheritance during cell division identified

... daughter cells. It has been determined, through the genetic research of Barnes and Drubin, among others, that kinetochores must bind to a microtubule spindle to avoid the gain or loss of chromosomes by each of the daughter cells. How this works, however, was unknown. To find answers, the Berkeley ...

Needling Chromosomes Reveals Cell Division Secret

... cells called meiosis. "Chromosomes in mitosis and meiosis have to be held together, because otherwise they don’t attach to the apparatus called the spindle that distributes them to opposite poles," explained Nicklas, who is a Research Professor of Biology. "If they're held together, then one replicated ...