Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Brief Communication
  • Published:

Extra centrosomes and/or chromosomes prolong mitosis in human cells

Nature Cell Biology volume 10, pages 748–751 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Using laser microsurgery and cell fusion we have explored how additional centrosomes and/or chromosomes influence the duration of mitosis in human cells. We found that doubling the chromosome number added approximately 10 min to a 20 min division, whereas doubling the number of centrosomes added approximately 30 min more. Extra centrosomes and/or chromosomes prolong mitosis by delaying satisfaction of the spindle assembly checkpoint. Thus mitosis can be prolonged by non-genetic means and extra chromosomes and centrosomes probably contribute to the elevated mitotic index seen in many tumours.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Doubling the chromosome number in human RPE-1 cells prolongs mitosis by delaying satisfaction of the spindle assembly checkpoint.
Figure 2: Extra centrosomes prolong mitosis in mononucleated (2N) cells.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Buffin E, Emre D., & Karess, R. E. Nature Cell Biol. 9, 565–572 (2007).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Rieder, C. L., Schultz, A., Cole, R., & Sluder, G. J. Cell Biol. 127, 1301–1310 (1994).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Kirschner, M. & Mitchison, T. Cell 45, 329–342 (1986).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Sisken, J. E., Bonner, S. V., & Grasch, S. D. J. Cell. Physiol. 113, 219–223 (1982).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Sisken, J. E., Bonner, S. V., Grasch, S. D., Powell, D. E., & Donaldson, E. S. Cell Tissue Kinet. 18, 137–146 (1985).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Sluder, G., Thompson, E. A., Miller, F. J., Hayes, J., & Rieder, C. L. J. Cell Sci. 110, 421–429 (1997).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Uetake, Y. & Sluder, G. J. Cell Biol. 165, 609–615 (2004).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Canman, J. C., Salmon, E. D., & Fang, G. Cell Motil. Cytoskel. 52, 61–65 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Meraldi, P., Draviam, V. M., & Sorger, P. K. Dev. Cell 7, 45–60 (2004).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Uetake, Y. et al. J. Cell Biol. 176, 173–182 (2007).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. La Terra, S. et al. J. Cell Biol. 168, 713–722 (2005).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Cuenda, A. et al. FEBS Lett. 364, 229–233 (1995).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. van Diest, P. J. & Baak, J. P. A. J. Clin. Pathol. 51, 716–724 (1998).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. Therman, E. & Kuhn, E. M. Crit. Rev. Oncogene 1, 293–305 (1989).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Saunders, W. Sem. Cancer Biol. 15, 25–32 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Institutes of General Medical Sciences grants 40198 (to C.L.R.) and 59363 (to A.K.). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of General Medical Sciences or the National Institutes of Health.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Molecular Medicine, N.Y.S. Department of Health, Wadsworth Center, Empire State Plaza, Albany, 12201-0509, New York, USA

    Zhenye Yang, Jadranka Lončarek, Alexey Khodjakov & Conly L. Rieder

  2. Department of Biomedical Sciences, School of Public Health, State University of New York, Albany, 12222, New York, USA

    Alexey Khodjakov & Conly L. Rieder

  3. Marine Biology Laboratory, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, 02543, MA, USA

    Alexey Khodjakov & Conly L. Rieder

Authors
  1. Zhenye Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jadranka Lončarek
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Alexey Khodjakov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Conly L. Rieder
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Z.Y. conducted the experiments and helped with the data analysis; J.L. assisted with the laser ablation work; A.K. and C.L.R. planned and supervised the project and data analyses.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Conly L. Rieder.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figures S1, S2, Supplementary Table S1 and Supplementary Methods (PDF 446 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Yang, Z., Lončarek, J., Khodjakov, A. et al. Extra centrosomes and/or chromosomes prolong mitosis in human cells. Nat Cell Biol 10, 748–751 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb1738

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb1738

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing