Spindle microtubules (red) disassemble into interphase arrays (left) unless p97 is missing (right).

Zheng/Elsevier

Disassembly of the mitotic spindle takes some effort, according to Kan Cao, Yixian Zheng (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD), and colleagues, who show that an ATPase and its binding partners pull apart the spindle.

The spindle is put together by assembly factors that are activated by the cyclin-dependent kinase Cdc2. The loss of Cdc2 activity at the end of mitosis has thus been the conventional explanation for spindle disassembly. “It was thought that dephosphorylation of mitotic spindle assembly factors changed microtubule dynamics directly and led to the transition into the interphase array,” says Zheng. But her group finds that Cdc2 inactivation is not enough—another pathway is required to dismantle the spindle.

This pathway is organized by a complex that includes the p97 AAA-ATPase. The authors suspected p97 involvement because loss of...

The Rockefeller University Press
2003
The Rockefeller University Press
2003
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