In dividing cells, kinetochores couple chromosomes to the tips of growing and shortening microtubule (MT) fibers 1, 2 and tension at the kinetochore-MT interface promotes fiber elongation 3-6 . Tension-dependent MT fiber elongation is thought to be essential for coordinating chromosome alignment and separation 1, 3, 7-10 , but the mechanism underlying this effect is unknown. Using optical tweezers, we applied tension to a model of the kinetochore-microtubule interface composed of the yeast Dam1 complex 11-13 bound to individual dynamic microtubule tips 14 . Higher tension decreased the likelihood that growing tips would begin to shorten, slowed shortening, and increased the likelihood that shortening tips would resume growth. These effects are similar to the effects of tension on kinetochore-attached microtubule fibers in many cell types, suggesting that we have reconstituted a direct mechanism for microtubule length control in mitosis.For decades, a central problem for biologists has been to understand how MT lengths are controlled during mitosis 15, 16 . MTs are protein polymers that switch stochastically between phases of assembly and disassembly, during which tubulin subunits are added or lost from the filament tips 1 . This behavior, called 'dynamic instability', can be described by four parameters: the speeds of growth and shortening, and the rates of switching from growth to shortening and from shortening to growth, transitions known as 'catastrophes ' and 'rescues' 1, 17 In dividing cells, chromosomes are linked to the tips of MT fibers through specialized structures called kinetochores and their movements are coupled to fiber growth and shortening 1, 2 . Remarkably, kinetochores maintain persistent, load-bearing attachments to microtubule tips even as the filaments assemble and disassemble under their grip 1, 2, 18 . Classic micromanipulation experiments show that tension at the kinetochore-MT interface promotes MT fiber elongation 3-6 , and this effect is widely believed to be essential for controlling fiber lengths and thereby coordinating chromosome alignment and separation 1, 3, 7-10, 16 . Very little is known about the mechanism underlying this tension-dependent length control. However, the dynamic behavior of kinetochore-attached MT tips 18 implies that the mechanism underlying tension-dependent length control in vivo may act by altering one or more of the parameters of dynamic instability in response to load.A key unanswered question is whether tension promotes elongation via an indirect mechanism, where force transmitted through load-bearing kinetochore components regulates the activity of separate MT-modifying components, or by a direct mechanism, where the load-bearing Correspondence should be addressed to C.L.A.. * These authors contributed equally to this work.
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Author ManuscriptNat Cell Biol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2009 May 13.
Published in final edited form as:Nat Cell Biol. 2007 July ; 9(7): 832-837. doi:10.1038/ncb1609.
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