Kohei Asai, Yuanzhuo Zhou, Osamu Takenouchi, Tomoya S Kitajima (2024) Artificial kinetochore beads establish a biorientation-like state in the spindle., Science (New York, N.Y.), Volume 385, Number 6715, pp. 1366-1375
Published in 2024 Sep 20 (Electronic publication in Sept. 19, 2024, midnight )
(Abstract) Faithful chromosome segregation requires biorientation, where the pair of kinetochores on the chromosome establish bipolar microtubule attachment. The integrity of the kinetochore, a macromolecular complex built on centromeric DNA, is required for biorientation, but components sufficient for biorientation remain unknown. Here, we show that tethering the outer kinetochore heterodimer NDC80-NUF2 to the surface of apolar microbeads establishes their biorientation-like state in mouse cells. NDC80-NUF2 microbeads align at the spindle equator and self-correct alignment errors. The alignment is associated with stable bipolar microtubule attachment and is independent of the outer kinetochore proteins SPC24-SPC25, KNL1, the Mis12 complex, inner kinetochore proteins, and Aurora. Larger microbeads align more rapidly, suggesting a size-dependent biorientation mechanism. This study demonstrates a biohybrid kinetochore design for synthetic biorientation of microscale particles in cells.(MeSH Terms)