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What generates flux of tubulin in kinetochore microtubules?

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We discuss models for production of tubulin flux in kinetochore microtubules. Current models concentrate solely on microtubules and their associated motors and enzymes. For example, in some models the driving force for flux is enzymes at the poles and the kinetochores; in others the driving force is motor molecules that are associated with a stationary spindle matrix. We present a different viewpoint, that microtubules are propelled poleward by forces arising from the spindle matrix, that the forces on the microtubules “activate” polymerising and depolymerising enzymes at kinetochores and poles, that matrix forces utilise actin, myosin, and microtubule motors, and that the matrix itself may not necessarily be static.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biology Department, York University, Toronto, Ontario

    Arthur Forer

  2. Botany Department, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria

    Jeremy D. Pickett-Heaps & Tim Spurck

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  1. Arthur Forer
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  2. Jeremy D. Pickett-Heaps
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  3. Tim Spurck
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Correspondence to Arthur Forer.

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Correspondence: A. Forer, Biology Department, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada.

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Forer, A., Pickett-Heaps, J. & Spurck, T. What generates flux of tubulin in kinetochore microtubules?. Protoplasma 232, 137–141 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-008-0286-y

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