PubMed Health⌕ Search
Home/Archive/PubMed

PubMed · 16807354

Measuring nanometer scale gradients in spindle microtubule dynamics using model convolution microscopy.

Chad G Pearson·Melissa K Gardner·Leocadia V Paliulis·E D Salmon·David J Odde·Kerry Bloom
View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

A computational model for the budding yeast mitotic spindle predicts a spatial gradient in tubulin turnover that is produced by kinetochore-attached microtubule (kMT) plus-end polymerization and depolymerization dynamics. However, kMTs in yeast are often much shorter than the resolution limit of the light microscope, making visualization of this gradient difficult. To overcome this limitation, we combined digital imaging of fluorescence redistribution after photobleaching (FRAP) with model convolution methods to compare computer simulations at nanometer scale resolution to microscopic data. We measured a gradient in microtubule dynamics in yeast spindles at approximately 65-nm spatial intervals. Tubulin turnover is greatest near kinetochores and lowest near the spindle poles. A beta-tubulin mutant with decreased plus-end dynamics preserves the spatial gradient in tubulin turnover at a slower time scale, increases average kinetochore microtubule length approximately 14%, and decreases tension at kinetochores. The beta-tubulin mutant cells have an increased frequency of chromosome loss, suggesting that the accuracy of chromosome segregation is linked to robust kMT plus-end dynamics.

Explore related subjects

Chromosome SegregationChromosomes, FungalComputer SimulationGreen Fluorescent ProteinsKinetochoresLuminescent ProteinsMicroscopyMicrotubule-Associated ProteinsMicrotubulesModels, MolecularMutant ProteinsMutationNanotechnologyPlasmidsRecombinant Fusion ProteinsSaccharomyces cerevisiaeSaccharomyces cerevisiae ProteinsSpindle ApparatusTubulinRed Fluorescent ProteinJournal ArticleResearch Support, N.I.H., ExtramuralResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Chad G Pearson, Melissa K Gardner, Leocadia V Paliulis, E D Salmon, David J Odde, Kerry Bloom. 2006-06-28. Measuring nanometer scale gradients in spindle microtubule dynamics using model convolution microscopy.. https://doi.org/10.1091/mbc.e06-04-0312

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related citations

PubMed2006

The mitotic spindle matrix: a fibro-membranous lamin connection.

The mitotic spindle apparatus has attracted the attention of cell biologists for decades. Whereas the main function of this microtubule-based system is to segregate chromosomes, spindle morphogenesis and chromosome segregation must also coordinate with the segregation of the whole cell. The finding that RanGTPase stimulates the assembly of a lamin B-containing membranous matrix in mitosis(1) may provide a connection between the segregation of mitotic chromosomes and the partitioning of membrane systems during cell division.

Chromosome Segregation↗
PubMed2006

Kallmann syndrome: mutations in the genes encoding prokineticin-2 and prokineticin receptor-2.

Kallmann syndrome combines anosmia, related to defective olfactory bulb morphogenesis, and hypogonadism due to gonadotropin-releasing hormone deficiency. Loss-of-function mutations in KAL1 and FGFR1 underlie the X chromosome-linked form and an autosomal dominant form of the disease, respectively. Mutations in these genes, however, only account for approximately 20% of all Kallmann syndrome cases. In a cohort of 192 patients we took a candidate gene strategy and identified ten and four different point mutations in the genes encoding the G protein-coupled prokineticin receptor-2 (PROKR2) and one of its ligands, prokineticin-2 (PROK2), respectively. The mutations in PROK2 were detected in the heterozygous state, whereas PROKR2 mutations were found in the heterozygous, homozygous, or compound heterozygous state. In addition, one of the patients heterozygous for a PROKR2 mutation was also carrying a missense mutation in KAL1, thus indicating a possible digenic inheritance of the disease in this individual. These findings reveal that insufficient prokineticin-signaling through PROKR2 leads to abnormal development of the olfactory system and reproductive axis in man. They also shed new light on the complex genetic transmission of Kallmann syndrome.

Chromosome Segregation↗
PubMed2006

The Forkhead transcription factor Hcm1 regulates chromosome segregation genes and fills the S-phase gap in the transcriptional circuitry of the cell cycle.

Transcription patterns shift dramatically as cells transit from one phase of the cell cycle to another. To better define this transcriptional circuitry, we collected new microarray data across the cell cycle of budding yeast. The combined analysis of these data with three other cell cycle data sets identifies hundreds of new highly periodic transcripts and provides a weighted average peak time for each transcript. Using these data and phylogenetic comparisons of promoter sequences, we have identified a late S-phase-specific promoter element. This element is the binding site for the forkhead protein Hcm1, which is required for its cell cycle-specific activity. Among the cell cycle-regulated genes that contain conserved Hcm1-binding sites, there is a significant enrichment of genes involved in chromosome segregation, spindle dynamics, and budding. This may explain why Hcm1 mutants show 10-fold elevated rates of chromosome loss and require the spindle checkpoint for viability. Hcm1 also induces the M-phase-specific transcription factors FKH1, FKH2, and NDD1, and two cell cycle-specific transcriptional repressors, WHI5 and YHP1. As such, Hcm1 fills a significant gap in our understanding of the transcriptional circuitry that underlies the cell cycle.

Chromosome Segregation↗