Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF, 3425K) PPT slides of all figures Supplemental Material Index Alert me when this article is cited Citation Map Services Email this article Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new content in the JCB Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Cheerambathur, D. K. Articles by Scholey, J. M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Cheerambathur, D. K. Articles by Scholey, J. M. Related Collections Related Article Social Bookmarking                            What's this?

Quantitative analysis of an anaphase B switch: predicted role for a microtubule catastrophe gradient

¹ Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and ² Department of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA 95616

Correspondence to Jonathan M. Scholey: jmscholey{at}ucdavis.edu

Anaphase B in Drosophila embryos is initiated by the inhibition of microtubule (MT) depolymerization at spindle poles, which allows outwardly sliding interpolar (ip) MTs to drive pole–pole separation. Using fluorescence recovery after photobleaching, we observed that MTs throughout the preanaphase B spindle are very dynamic and display complete recovery of fluorescence, but during anaphase B, MTs proximal to the poles stabilize and therefore display lower recovery than those elsewhere. Fluorescence microscopy of the MT tip tracker EB1 revealed that growing MT plus ends localize throughout the preanaphase B spindle but concentrate in the overlap region of interpolar MTs (ipMTs) at anaphase B onset. None of these changes occurred in the presence of nondegradable cyclin B. Modeling suggests that they depend on the establishment of a spatial gradient of MT plus-end catastrophe frequencies, decreasing toward the equator. The resulting redistribution of ipMT plus ends to the overlap zone, together with the suppression of minus-end depolymerization at the poles, could constitute a mechanical switch that initiates spindle elongation.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

Related Article

Catastrophe gradient drives anaphase B

Nicole LeBrasseur
J. Cell Biol. 2007 177: 944a. [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Needleman, D. J., Groen, A., Ohi, R., Maresca, T., Mirny, L., Mitchison, T. (2010). Fast Microtubule Dynamics in Meiotic Spindles Measured by Single Molecule Imaging: Evidence That the Spindle Environment Does Not Stabilize Microtubules. Mol. Biol. Cell 21: 323-333 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Civelekoglu-Scholey, G., Tao, L., Brust-Mascher, I., Wollman, R., Scholey, J. M. (2010). Prometaphase spindle maintenance by an antagonistic motor-dependent force balance made robust by a disassembling lamin-B envelope. JCB 188: 49-68 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Fernandez, N., Chang, Q., Buster, D. W., Sharp, D. J., Ma, A. (2009). A model for the regulatory network controlling the dynamics of kinetochore microtubule plus-ends and poleward flux in metaphase. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 106: 7846-7851 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Brust-Mascher, I., Sommi, P., Cheerambathur, D. K., Scholey, J. M. (2009). Kinesin-5-dependent Poleward Flux and Spindle Length Control in Drosophila Embryo Mitosis. Mol. Biol. Cell 20: 1749-1762 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Cheerambathur, D. K., Brust-Mascher, I., Civelekoglu-Scholey, G., Scholey, J. M. (2008). Dynamic partitioning of mitotic kinesin-5 cross-linkers between microtubule-bound and freely diffusing states. JCB 182: 429-436 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Woodbury, E. L., Morgan, D. O. (2007). The Role of Self-association in Fin1 Function on the Mitotic Spindle. J. Biol. Chem. 282: 32138-32143 [Abstract] [Full Text]  

Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents