title: The role of model organisms in the history of mitosis research.
abstract: Mitosis is a cell-cycle stage during which condensed chromosomes migrate to the middle of the cell and segregate into two daughter nuclei before cytokinesis (cell division) with the aid of a dynamic mitotic spindle. The history of mitosis research is quite long, commencing well before the discovery of DNA as the repository of genetic information. However, great and rapid progress has been made since the introduction of recombinant DNA technology and discovery of universal cell-cycle control. A large number of conserved eukaryotic genes required for the progression from early to late mitotic stages have been discovered, confirming that DNA replication and mitosis are the two main events in the cell-division cycle. In this article, a historical overview of mitosis is given, emphasizing the importance of diverse model organisms that have been used to solve fundamental questions about mitosis.
authors.affiliation: Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa 904-0495, Japan.
authors.forename: Mitsuhiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yanagida
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001695:Biology / Q000266:history*; D002453:Cell Cycle; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D020090:Chromosome Segregation; D048749:Cytokinesis; D004274:DNA, Recombinant / Q000235:genetics; D005821:Genetic Techniques; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008938:Mitosis; D023421:Models, Animal; D012617:Sea Urchins; D008941:Spindle Apparatus; D014562:Caudata; D015003:Yeasts; D003313:Zea mays
chemical_list: D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D004274:DNA, Recombinant