Duct tape for broken chromosomes.
A cell undergoing mitosis is presented with a potentially catastrophic situation when a DNA double-strand break creates a chromosome fragment that lacks connection to a centromere. Royou et al. (2010) now reveal that this cellular crisis is averted in fruit fly neuroblasts by thin chromatin tethers that hold on to the ends of the broken chromosomes.
Cell Cycle & Cancer Biology, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA. gjg@omrf.org
Gary J
GJ
Gorbsky
D000818:Animals; D002503:Centromere / Q000378:metabolism*; D002875:Chromosomes / Q000378:metabolism*; D053903:DNA Breaks, Double-Stranded; D004330:Drosophila / Q000166:cytology* / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism*; D008938:Mitosis