Hardwick lab paper featured in PLOS Genetics. Authors Fernius J, Hardwick KG. PLoS Genet. 2007 Nov;3(11):e213 Summary Many human diseases, including birth defects and cancer, are associated with aneuploidy. This is where cells have an incorrect number of chromosomes, because of a failure to segregate their genetic material accurately during cell division. Cells employ many control mechanisms to ensure an extremely high fidelity of chromosome segregation. One way that they do this is to hold the replicated copies of their chromosomes (known as sister chromatids) together until they are all attached properly to microtubules of the mitotic spindle. All pairs of sister chromatids must have one sister attached to each of the two spindle poles, a process known as biorientation. Here we demonstrate that the Bub1 kinase domain acts to target Sgo1 to budding yeast centromeres, and that both of these proteins are required for efficient biorientation of chromosomes in yeast mitosis. Bub1 kinase and Sgo1 functions become particularly important during spindle reassembly after antimicrotubule drug treatment. We propose that this is because the mutant cells fail to respond to kinetochores that are not under tension, and that they are unable to correct syntelic attachments where both sister chromatids attach to microtubules from the same spindle pole. Related links Journal link This article was published on 2024-06-17
