A spindle turned perpendicular (bottom) to the surface leaves only one daughter on the matrix.
Bonder/NAS
Cells in an epithelial layer normally divide perpendicular to their surface; each daughter cell thus remains in contact with the matrix and surrounding cells. The new results show that cells with too much RhoA activity, as found in several cancer cell lines, lost the spindle orientation needed for this perpendicular division. Many of the cells thus made a spindle that left only one daughter on the matrix.
The other cell, atop its matrix-bound sister, lacked the spread phenotype of matrix-attached cells. Due to inadequate cell–cell adhesions, these rounded cells occasionally detached from the epithelium, floated off in the medium, and...
