Journal
CELL
Volume 135, Issue 2, Pages 322-333Publisher
CELL PRESS
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2008.08.038
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Funding
- NCRR NIH HHS [RR000592, P41 RR000592, P41 RR000592-35] Funding Source: Medline
- NIGMS NIH HHS [R01 GM033787-24, GM033787, R01 GM033787] Funding Source: Medline
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Kinetochores of mitotic chromosomes are coupled to spindle microtubules in ways that allow the energy from tubulin dynamics to drive chromosome motion. Most kinetochore-associated microtubule ends display curving protofilaments,'' strands of tubulin dimers that bend away from the microtubule axis. Both a kinetochore plate'' and an encircling, ring-shaped protein complex have been proposed to link protofilament bending to poleward chromosome motion. Here we show by electron tomography that slender fibrils connect curved protofilaments directly to the inner kinetochore. Fibril-protofilament associations correlate with a local straightening of the flared protofilaments. Theoretical analysis reveals that protofilament-fibril connections would be efficient couplers for chromosome motion, and experimental work on two very different kinetochore components suggests that filamentous proteins can couple shortening microtubules to cargo movements. These analyses define a ring-independent mechanism for harnessing microtubule dynamics directly to chromosome movement.
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