Friction Harnessed by Proteins Helps Organize Cell Division

A football-shaped structure, known as the mitotic spindle, makes cell division possible for many living things. This piece of cellular architecture, responsible for dividing up genetic material, is in constant flux. The filaments that form it grow and shrink, while motor-like molecules burn energy pushing them about. To ensure the complex process proceeds in an orderly fashion, molecular fasteners pin the filaments together in certain places, and new research in Tarun Kapoor's Laboratory of Chemistry and Cell Biology helps explain how they do it.

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