Overexpressed PRC1 bundles microtubules in interphase cells.
PRC1 is a cyclin-dependent kinase substrate known to be localized to the central spindle midzone during mitosis, where antiparallel over- lapping microtubules are the site of accumulation of many proteins required for cytokinesis. With their new results, the authors have found that the structure of the spindle midzone is maintained by PRC1 microtubule bundling activity.
Mollinari et al. found that PRC1 could form bundles of microtubules both in vitro and in vivo, where high levels of exogenously expressed PRC1 caused unusual cytoplasmic arrays of microtubules in interphase cells. Bundling was required for cytokinesis; in the absence of PRC1, chromosomes separated normally along a disorganized anaphase...
