INTERBIO – European Social Fund (ESF)

Cytoskeletal dynamics and spindle assembly during cell division

The INTERBIO project contributed to the competence and excellence of research by giving opportunities to young scientists in concurrent and interdisciplinary research in biosciences. Project focused on the role of specific proteins in actin cytoskeletal dynamics and the function of the spindle assembly in precise positioning of chromosomes in the metaphase plate, together with microtubule and kinetochore dynamics. Confocal microscopy combined with laser microsurgery was used to give insight into interactions between different elements of the spindle.

2015-2016 INTERBIO
Research area: Cell biology
MentorsProf Iva Tolić and Prof Igor Weber
Host Institution: Ruđer Bošković Institute, Zagreb
Project: Interdisciplinary research in cell biology (INTERBIO)
ESF funding: HRK 1.599.950,00 for fifteen months


Mitotic Spindle Assembly: Building the Bridge between Sister K-Fibers.
Juraj Simunić, Iva M. Tolić.
Trends Biochem Sci, 41(10): 824–833 (2016).

The mitotic spindle performs the task of physically dividing the genetic material between the newly formed daughter cells. To achieve this, bundles of microtubules and associated proteins orchestrate forces that spatially organize and then separate the chromosomes. In the classic view of the spindle, the kinetochore microtubules (k-fibers) are tensed and, thus, straight, whereas interpolar bundles are curved and do not interact with k-fibers close to the spindle equator. The updated view of the spindle depicts k-fibers as curved and interacting with newly identified interpolar bundles, called bridging fibers, along their length. In this Opinion, we propose and discuss scenarios for the origin of this structure in the context of known spindle assembly mechanisms.


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Publications

Helical twist and rotational forces in the mitotic spindle.
Iva M.Tolić, Maja Novak, Nenad Pavin.
Biomolecules, 9(4): 132 (2019). PDF | web

The mitotic spindle is chiral due to torques within microtubule bundles.
Maja Novak, Bruno Polak, Juraj Simunić, Zvonimir Boban, Barbara Kuzmić, Andreas Thomae, Iva M. Tolić, Nenad Pavin.
Nat Commun, 9(1): 3571 (2018). PDF | web

Mitotic Spindle Assembly: Building the Bridge between Sister K-Fibers.
Juraj Simunić, Iva M. Tolić.
Trends Biochem Sci, 41(10): 824–833 (2016). PDF | web

 


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