The Azimzadeh Lab has just published a new study in elife : Evolutionary conservation of centriole rotational asymmetry in the human centrosome   Abstract Centrioles are formed by microtubule triplets in a nine-fold symmetric arrangement. In flagellated protists and in animal multiciliated cells, accessory structures tethered to specific triplets render the centrioles rotationally asymmetric, a property that…

The Pintard Team has just published a new paper in eLife : Cortical microtubule pulling forces contribute to the union of the parental genomes in the Caenorhabditis elegans zygote   Abstract Previously, we reported that the Polo-like kinase PLK-1 phosphorylates the single Caenorhabditis elegans lamin (LMN-1) to trigger lamina depolymerization during mitosis. We showed that this event is required to form…

The Minc Team has just published a new paper in PNAS : Contribution of cytoplasm viscoelastic properties to mitotic spindle positioning   Abstract Cells are filled with macromolecules and polymer networks that set scale-dependent viscous and elastic properties to the cytoplasm. Although the role of these parameters in molecular diffusion, reaction kinetics, and cellular biochemistry is being increasingly…