SUMMARY Centrosome amplification is a common feature of human tumors, but whether this is a cause or a consequence of cancer remains unclear. Here, we test the consequence of centrosome amplification by creating mice in which centrosome number can be chronically increased in the absence of additional genetic defects. We show that increasing centrosome number elevated tumor initiation in a mouse model of intestinal neoplasia. Most importantly, we demonstrate that supernumerary centrosomes are sufficient to drive aneuploidy and the development of spontaneous tumors in multiple tissues. Tumors arising from centrosome amplification exhibit frequent mitotic errors and possess complex karyotypes, recapitulating a common feature of human cancer. Together, our data support a direct causal relationship between centrosome amplification, genomic instability and tumor development.

End binding 1 (EB1) is a plus-end-tracking protein (+TIP) that localizes to microtubule plus ends where it modulates their dynamics and interactions with intracellular organelles. Although the regulating activity of EB1 on microtubule dynamics has been studied in cells and purified systems, the molecular mechanisms involved in its specific activity are still unclear. Here, we describe how EB1 regulates the dynamics and structure of microtubules assembled from pure tubulin. We found that EB1 stimulates spontaneous nucleation and growth of microtubules, and promotes both catastrophes (transitions from growth to shrinkage) and rescues (reverse events). Electron cryomicroscopy showed that EB1 induces the initial formation of tubulin sheets, which rapidly close into the common 13-protofilament-microtubule architecture. Our results suggest that EB1 favours the lateral association of free tubulin at microtubule-sheet edges, thereby stimulating nucleation, sheet growth and closure. The reduction of sheet length at microtubule growing-ends together with the elimination of stressed microtubule lattices may account for catastrophes. Conversely, occasional binding of EB1 to the microtubule lattice may induce rescues.

Significance Aneuploidy, an abnormal chromosome content that commonly occurs because of errors in chromosome segregation, can promote or suppress tumor formation. What determines how aneuploidy influences tumorigenesis has remained unclear. Here we show that the rate of chromosome missegregation, rather than the level of accumulated aneuploidy, determines the effect on tumors. Increasing the rate of chromosome missegregation beyond a certain threshold suppresses tumors by causing cell death. Increasing errors of chromosome segregation did not affect tumor formation caused by genetic mutations that do not themselves alter chromosome inheritance. These results suggest that accelerating chromosome missegregation in chromosomally unstable tumors may be a useful strategy therapeutically.