Kinesins to the core: the role of microtubule-based motor proteins in building the mitotic spindle midzone

摘要

In mammalian cultured cells the initiation of cytokinesis is regulated – both temporally and spatially – by the overlapping, anti-parallel microtubules of the spindle midzone. This region recruits several key central spindle components: PRC-1, Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk-1), the centralspindlin complex, and the Chromosome Passenger Complex (CPC), which together serve to stabilize the microtubule overlap, and also to coordinate the assembly of the cortical actin/myosin cytoskeleton necessary to physically cleave the cell in two. The localization of these crucial elements to the spindle midzone requires members of the kinesin superfamily of microtubule-based motor proteins. Here we focus on reviewing the role played by a variety of kinesins in both building and operating the spindle midzone machinery during cytokinesis.