Cytokinesis is the part of the cell division process and part of mitosis during which the cytoplasm of a single eukaryotic cell divides into two daughter cells. Cytoplasmic division begins during or after the late stages of nuclear division in mitosis and meiosis. During cytokinesis the spindle apparatus partitions and transports duplicated chromatids into the cytoplasm of the separating daughter cells. It thereby ensures that chromosome number and complement are maintained from one generation to the next and that, except in special cases, the daughter cells will be functional copies of the parent cell. After the completion of the telophase and cytokinesis, each daughter cell enters the interphase of the cell cycle.
In cell biology, the spindle apparatus is the cytoskeletal structure of eukaryotic cells that forms during cell division to separate sister chromatids between daughter cells. It is referred to as the mitotic spindle during mitosis, a process that produces genetically identical daughter cells, or the meiotic spindle during meiosis, a process that produces gametes with half the number of chromosomes of the parent cell.
The spindle checkpoint, also known as the metaphase-to-anaphase transition, the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC), the metaphase checkpoint, or the mitotic checkpoint, is a cell cycle checkpoint during metaphase of mitosis or meiosis that prevents the separation of the duplicated chromosomes (anaphase) until each chromosome is properly attached to the spindle. To achieve proper segregation, the two kinetochores on the sister chromatids must be attached to opposite spindle poles. Only this pattern of attachment will ensure that each daughter cell receives one copy of the chromosome. The defining biochemical feature of this checkpoint is the stimulation of the anaphase-promoting complex by M-phase cyclin-CDK complexes, which in turn causes the proteolytic destruction of cyclins and proteins that hold the sister chromatids together.
A kinetochore is a disc-shaped protein structure associated with duplicated chromatids in eukaryotic cells where the spindle fibers attach during cell division to pull sister chromatids apart. The kinetochore assembles on the centromere and links the chromosome to microtubule polymers from the mitotic spindle during mitosis and meiosis. The term kinetochore was first used in a footnote in a 1934 Cytology book by Lester W. Sharp and commonly accepted in 1936. Sharp's footnote reads: "The convenient term kinetochore has been suggested to the author by J. A. Moore", likely referring to John Alexander Moore who had joined Columbia University as a freshman in 1932.
Aurora kinase A also known as serine/threonine-protein kinase 6 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the AURKA gene.
Survivin, also called baculoviral inhibitor of apoptosis repeat-containing 5 or BIRC5, is a protein that, in humans, is encoded by the BIRC5 gene.
Aurora kinase B is a protein that functions in the attachment of the mitotic spindle to the centromere.
Aurora kinase inhibitors are a putative drug class for treating cancer. The Aurora kinase enzymes could be potential targets for novel small-molecule enzyme inhibitors.
Centromere protein A, also known as CENPA, is a protein which in humans is encoded by the CENPA gene. CENPA is a histone H3 variant which is the critical factor determining the kinetochore position(s) on each chromosome in most eukaryotes including humans.
Kinetochore protein NDC80 homolog is a protein that in humans is encoded by the NDC80 gene.
Kinesin-like protein KIF23 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the KIF23 gene.
Centromere-associated protein E is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CENPE gene.
Borealin is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CDCA8 gene.
Centromere protein C 1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CENPC1 gene.
Kinetochore protein Nuf2 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the NUF2 gene.
Aurora kinase C, also Serine/threonine-protein kinase 13 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the AURKC gene.
Protein RCC2 also known as telophase disk protein of 60 kDa (TD-60) or RCC1-like protein TD-60 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the RCC2 gene.
The midbody is a transient structure found in mammalian cells and is present near the end of cytokinesis just prior to the complete separation of the dividing cells. The structure was first described by Walther Flemming in 1891.
William Charles Earnshaw is Professor of Chromosome Dynamics at the University of Edinburgh, where he has been a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow since 1996.
ERCC excision repair 6 like, spindle assembly checkpoint helicase is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ERCC6L gene.
