Gradients in the self-organization of the mitotic spindle.
Recent evidence points at a role of protein interaction gradients around chromatin in mitotic spindle morphogenesis in large eukaryotic cells. Here, we explain how gradients can arise over distances of tens of microns around supramolecular structures from mixtures of soluble molecules. We discuss how coupled sets of such reaction diffusion processes generate the spatial information that determines the local dynamics of microtubules required to form a bipolar spindle. We argue that such reaction diffusion processes are involved in the self-organization of supramolecular structures in the cell.
Cell Biology and Biophysics Program, EMBL, Meyerhofstrasse 1, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
Philippe
P
Bastiaens
Maiwen
M
Caudron
Philipp
P
Niethammer
Eric
E
Karsenti
D000818:Animals; D002457:Cell Extracts; D018385:Centrosome / Q000378:metabolism; D002875:Chromosomes / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000502:physiology*; D020558:GTP Phosphohydrolases / Q000737:chemistry; D008954:Models, Biological; D010766:Phosphorylation; D015398:Signal Transduction; D008941:Spindle Apparatus / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000378:metabolism; D020931:ran GTP-Binding Protein / Q000378:metabolism
D002457:Cell Extracts; D020558:GTP Phosphohydrolases; D020931:ran GTP-Binding Protein