The spindle-assembly checkpoint is a safety device that monitors the attachment of spindle microtubules to kinetochores and ensures the fidelity of chromosome segregation in mitosis. Molecular studies are finally starting to reveal the mechanisms of checkpoint activation and inactivation.

The spindle-assembly checkpoint in space and time.

Successful cell division requires the precise and timely coordination of chromosomal, cytoskeletal and membrane trafficking events. These processes are regulated by the competing actions of protein kinases and phosphatases. Aurora B is one of the most intensively studied kinases. In conjunction with inner centromere protein (INCENP), borealin (also known as Dasra) and survivin it forms the chromosomal passenger complex (CPC). This complex targets to different locations at differing times during mitosis, where it regulates key mitotic events: correction of chromosome-microtubule attachment errors; activation of the spindle assembly checkpoint; and construction and regulation of the contractile apparatus that drives cytokinesis. Our growing understanding of the CPC has seen it develop from a mere passenger riding on the chromosomes to one of the main controllers of mitosis.

/pdf/the-chromosomal-passenger-complex-cpc-from-easy-rider-to-the-1sga3ojqcp.pdf

The Chromosomal Passenger Complex (CPC): From Easy Rider to the Godfather of Mitosis

Kinetochore microtubule dynamics and attachment stability are regulated by Hec1.

https://air.unimi.it/bitstream/2434/57990/1/Cell%202008%20Ciferri.pdf

Implications for Kinetochore-Microtubule Attachment from the Structure of an Engineered Ndc80 Complex

https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(10)00076-X.pdf

Christophe B. Hirel

Papers

Aurora Kinase Promotes Turnover of Kinetochore Microtubules to Reduce Chromosome Segregation Errors