Results: 55
Centrosomes position on the shortest nuclear axis at nuclear envelope breakdownTo characterize mitotic spindle assembly at high spatiotemporal resolution, we performed 4D imaging in HeLa cells. We observed that when cells are seeded on a substrate that does not activate integrin signaling (poly-L-lysine; PLL), centrosomes separate independently of NEB ( Fig. S1A), as reported previously [2, 25]. However, 60 when seeded on integrin-activating fibronectin (FBN), ~82% of the cells separate their centrosomes to opposite sides of the nucleus before NEB. Moreover, cells that have an increased spreading area at NEB show longer inter-centrosome distances ( Fig. S1B), suggesting that centrosome separation prior to NEB is a function of the adhesion area.To normalize cell area and shape in 2D, we seeded cells on defined FBN micropatterns 65 and monitored centrosome dynamics, cell membrane and nuclear shape ( Fig. 1A), which were subsequently reconstructed using specifically developed computational algorithms ( Fig. S2). Centrosome dynamics relative to the micropattern was defined by two angles theta and phi, reflecting movements in xy (azimuth) and xz (inclination), respectively (Fig. 1B). These vary between 0 o (aligned with the long axis of the pattern) and 90 o 70 (perpendicular to the pattern). We anticipated that separated centrosomes should align with the long axis of the micropattern, due to the distribution of retraction fibers imposed by extracellular matrix organization [17,20]. However, during mitotic entry, centrosomes deviated from the underlying micropattern, as observed by the high variability of theta and phi (Fig. 1B). This was accompanied by a rotation of the nucleus relative to the long 75 axis of the pattern, as well as a decrease in cell area (Fig. 1C). Due to the shape asymmetry of the line micropattern, we could calculate cell membrane eccentricity, which varies between 1 (completely elongated cell) and 0 (spherical cell). As cell progressed towards NEB, membrane eccentricity decrease (Fig. 1D) due to a retraction of the long cell axis (Fig. 1E, 0 o ) and a simultaneous increase in cell width, perpendicularly to the 80 pattern ( Fig. 1E, F; 90 o ; *** p<0.001). Interestingly, during the rounding process, the