title: Katanin contributes to interspecies spindle length scaling in Xenopus.
abstract: Bipolar spindles must separate chromosomes by the appropriate distance during cell division, but mechanisms determining spindle length are poorly understood. Based on a 2D model of meiotic spindle assembly, we predicted that higher localized microtubule (MT) depolymerization rates could generate the shorter spindles observed in egg extracts of X. tropicalis compared to X. laevis. We found that katanin-dependent MT severing was increased in X. tropicalis, which, unlike X. laevis, lacks an inhibitory phosphorylation site in the katanin p60 catalytic subunit. Katanin inhibition lengthened spindles in both species. In X. tropicalis, k-fiber MT bundles that connect to chromosomes at their kinetochores extended through spindle poles, disrupting them. In both X. tropicalis extracts and the spindle simulation, a balance between k-fiber number and MT depolymerization is required to maintain spindle morphology. Thus, mechanisms have evolved in different species to scale spindle size and coordinate regulation of multiple MT populations in order to generate a robust steady-state structure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Rose
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Loughlin
authors.forename: Jeremy D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Wilbur
authors.forename: Francis J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: McNally
authors.forename: François J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Nédélec
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Heald
mesh_terms: D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002457:Cell Extracts; D006801:Humans; D000074201:Katanin; D008870:Microtubules / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D053141:Organelle Size; D010766:Phosphorylation; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013045:Species Specificity; D008941:Spindle Apparatus / Q000378:metabolism*; D014981:Xenopus / Q000502:physiology*; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D002457:Cell Extracts; D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases; D000074201:Katanin