title: Aurora A's Functions During Mitotic Exit: The Guess Who Game.
abstract: Until recently, the knowledge of Aurora A kinase functions during mitosis was limited to pre-metaphase events, particularly centrosome maturation, G2/M transition, and mitotic spindle assembly. However, an involvement of Aurora A in post-metaphase events was also suspected, but not clearly demonstrated due to the technical difficulty to perform the appropriate experiments. Recent developments of both an analog-specific version of Aurora A and small molecule inhibitors have led to the first demonstration that Aurora A is required for the early steps of cytokinesis. As in pre-metaphase, Aurora A plays diverse functions during anaphase, essentially participating in astral microtubules dynamics and central spindle assembly and functioning. The present review describes the experimental systems used to decipher new functions of Aurora A during late mitosis and situate these functions into the context of cytokinesis mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Unité Mixte de Recherche 6290, Équipe labellisée Ligue, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Rennes, France; Institut de Génétique et Développement de Rennes, Université Rennes 1, Rennes, France.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Reboutier
authors.affiliation: Unité Mixte de Recherche 6290, Équipe labellisée Ligue, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Rennes, France; Institut de Génétique et Développement de Rennes, Université Rennes 1, Rennes, France.
authors.forename: Christelle
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Benaud
authors.affiliation: Unité Mixte de Recherche 6290, Équipe labellisée Ligue, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Rennes, France; Institut de Génétique et Développement de Rennes, Université Rennes 1, Rennes, France.
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Prigent
keywords: Aurora kinase; cancer; central spindle; cytokinesis; microtubule; mitosis