Microtubule pivoting enables mitotic spindle assembly in S. cerevisiae

To assemble a bipolar spindle, microtubules emanating from two poles must bundle into an antiparallel midzone, where plus end–directed motors generate outward pushing forces to drive pole separation. Midzone cross-linkers and motors display only modest preferences for antiparallel filaments, and duplicated poles are initially tethered together, an arrangement that instead favors parallel interactions. Pivoting of microtubules around spindle poles might help overcome this geometric bias, but the intrinsic pivoting flexibility of the microtubule–pole interface has not been directly measured, nor has its importance during early spindle assembly been tested. By measuring the pivoting of microtubules around isolated yeast spindle poles, we show that pivoting flexibility can be modified by mutating a microtubule-anchoring pole component, Spc110. By engineering mutants with different flexibilities, we establish the importance of pivoting in vivo for timely pole separation. Our results suggest that passive thermal pivoting can bring microtubules from side-by-side poles into initial contact, but active minus end–directed force generation will be needed to achieve antiparallel alignment.

RACK STORAGE COMPONENT DESIGN BY PARAMETRIC CURVES AND SURFACES

The purpose of study is to obtain procedures of designing several models of rack support and pole component, so that the shape are varies, symmetrical, graded, and balance. The results show that the procedure of designing rack support component can be done by taking some data of a space frame construction of the cube, triangular prism, or cone, then we set a few points on the frame to build piece of parametric curve. Finally we interpolate the curves to find a rack support surfaces. As for the rack pole component, the procedures are: we extract data of straight line segments, oblique or helical shape, then we enumerate the lines into several sub-segments, and then breaks it down to build the trending, chain, and graded curve to get a balance rack pole .

SPC72: a spindle pole component required for spindle orientation in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The monoclonal antibody 78H6 recognises an 85 kDa component of the yeast spindle pole body. Here we identify and characterise this component as Spc72p, the product of YAL047C. The sequence of SPC72 contains potential coiled-coil domains; its overexpression induced formation of large polymers that were strictly localised at the outer plaque and at the bridge of the spindle pole body. Immunoelectron microscopy confirmed that Spc72p was a component of these polymers. SPC72 was found to be non-essential for cell growth, but its deletion resulted in abnormal spindle positioning, aberrant nuclear migration and defective mating capability. Precisely, deletion of SPC72 resulted in a decreased number of astral microtubules: early in the cell cycle only few were detectable, and these were unattached to the spindle pole body in small-budded cells. Later in the cell cycle few, if any, remained, and they were unable to align the spindle properly. We conclude that Spc72p is not absolutely required for nucleation per se, but is needed for normal abundance and stability of astral microtubules.

A Mutational Analysis Identifies Three Functional Regions of the Spindle Pole Component Spc110p in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The central coiled coil of the essential spindle pole component Spc110p spans the distance between the central and inner plaques of theSaccharomyces cerevisiae spindle pole body (SPB). The carboxy terminus of Spc110p, which binds calmodulin, resides at the central plaque, and the amino terminus resides at the inner plaque from which nuclear microtubules originate. To dissect the functions of Spc110p, we created temperature-sensitive mutations in the amino and carboxy termini. Analysis of the temperature-sensitivespc110 mutations and intragenic complementation analysis of the spc110 alleles defined three functional regions of Spc110p. Region I is located at the amino terminus. Region II is located at the carboxy-terminal end of the coiled coil, and region III is the previously defined calmodulin-binding site. Overexpression ofSPC98 suppresses the temperature sensitivity conferred by mutations in region I but not the phenotypes conferred by mutations in the other two regions, suggesting that the amino terminus of Spc110p is involved in an interaction with the γ-tubulin complex composed of Spc97p, Spc98p, and Tub4p. Mutations in region II lead to loss of SPB integrity during mitosis, suggesting that this region is required for the stable attachment of Spc110p to the central plaque. Our results strongly argue that Spc110p links the γ-tubulin complex to the central plaque of the SPB.

Radiointerferometric polar motion determination using a very long north-south baseline

The first high accuracy VLBI measurements with the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) at the southern end of the African tectonic plate were made possible at the beginning of 1986 through the loan of a MARK III DAT to HartRAO by the US National Geodetic Survey. Six twenty-four hour experiments spread over thirty-three days were used to precisely determine the HartRAO station position and to measure baseline lengths to Europe and North America. Interleaved between these multi-station experiments, a single baseline from Wettzell to HartRAO was used for two hours on a daily basis in order to measure pole positions. The formal errors of the x and y pole component determinations for each day are about ±2 mas and ±1 mas respectively, but an offset of about 6 mas from the IRIS values remains to be investigated.

A novel mitotic spindle pole component that originates from the cytoplasm during prophase.

Several unique aspects of mitotic spindle formation have been revealed by investigation of an autoantibody present in the serum of a patient with the CREST (calcinosis, Raynaud's phenomenon, esophageal dysmotility, schlerodacytyly, and telangiectasias) syndrome. This antibody was previously shown to label at the spindle poles of metaphase and anaphase cells and to be absent from interphase cells. We show here that the serum stained discrete cytoplasmic foci in early prophase cells and only later localized to the spindle poles. The cytoplasmic distribution of the antigen was also seen in nocodazole-arrested cells and prophase cells in populations treated with taxol. In normal and taxol-treated cells, the microtubules appeared to emanate from the cytoplasmic foci and polar stain, and in cells released from nocodazole block, microtubules regrew from antigen-containing centers. This characteristic distribution suggests that the antigen is part of a microtubule organizing center. Thus, we propose that a prophase originating polar antigen functions in spindle pole organization as a coalescing microtubule organizing center that is present only during mitosis. Characterization of the serum showed reactions with multiple proteins at 115, 110, 50, 36, 30, and 28 kD. However, affinity-eluted antibody from the 115/110-kD bands was shown to specifically label the spindle pole and cytosolic foci in prophase cells.