Lateral interactions with K-fibers (left) allow monooriented chromosomes to get to the metaphase plate, but they accumulate at poles in cells lacking CENP-E (right top).

HERGERT and LAMPSON/AAAS

Chromosomes find an ingenious route to the metaphase plate to improve their chances of biorientation, based on new results from Tarun Kapoor (Rockefeller University, New York, NY), Alexey Khodjakov (Wadsworth Center, Albany, NY), and colleagues.

For their even distribution into daughter cells, chromosomes must first be attached to the opposite spindle poles. For the most part, a chromosome is first monooriented—that is, it is hitched by microtubule bundles (K-fibers), connecting its kinetochore to a single pole. That chromosome is then pulled toward its attached pole, where microtubules from the opposite pole are rare. Eventually, however, the chromosome leaves this pole and congresses to the metaphase plate.

This congression is generally assumed to be the result of biorientation,...

The Rockefeller University Press
2006
The Rockefeller University Press
2006
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