As the cell proceeds through the stages of cell division (from left to right: interphase, prometaphase, metaphase, and anaphase), chromosomes become progressively more compact through a combination of ...

Microtubules, the dynamic filaments that form the cell's internal scaffolding, have long been viewed as mere passive structural supports. But a new study reveals they play a far more active signaling ...

David Pellman (left) is a professor at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School (both MA, USA), who also has affiliations with Howard Hughes Medical Institute (MD, USA) and the ...

Before cells can divide, they first need to replicate all of their chromosomes, so that each of the daughter cells can receive a full set of genetic material. Until now, scientists had believed that ...

Cell division, i.e., the process through which a parent cell divides into two daughter cells, is fundamental to the growth, repair, and reproduction of living organisms. During cell division, ...

Kinesin proteins eat away at microtubules, shortening them and pulling chromosomes to opposite spindle poles during cell division in most organisms. However, fission yeast lacks these proteins, and ...

Prior to cell division, chromosomes are seemingly a jumbled mess. During cell division, parent cell chromosomes and their duplicates sort themselves out by condensing, becoming thousands of times more ...

For sexual reproduction to yield healthy offspring, newly generated oocytes-immature egg cells-must receive the correct amount of DNA after cell division. This process of segregating chromosomes ...

Chromosomes are thread-like structures located inside the nucleus of animal and plant cells. Each chromosome is made of protein and a single molecule of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Passed from ...

Researchers have found a molecular mechanism that prevents multiplication of potentially dangerous cells by measuring the duration of mitosis. They have shown that this mechanism -- the Mitotic ...