Science

Scientists Solve More Than 50 Year Old DNA Mystery

Think back to sophomore biology and recitations of all the six phases of mitosis. Recall the onion peel lab where you were able to see cells in varying states of mitotic division.

Whitehead Institute Researcher Figures Out What Causes Chromosomes to Align Along Center Axis During Mitosis

Metaphase: Notice how the chromosomes (stained a darker purple) have aligned in the center of the dividing cell.

Remember the one phase in particular — metaphase — where the chromosomes lined up perfectly in the center of the cell before being pulled to the sides when cytokinesis — cell division — took place.

You may not have wondered what caused these chromosomes to line up just right, but scientists sure did. For the past 50 plus years, researchers have been trying to figure out what internal signals were at work to cause the chromosomes to line up along a center axis.

Tomomi Kiyomitsu with the Whitehead Institute of MIT found that it is linked to a motor protein called dynein, which usually “walks” molecular components of the cell along microtubules to a given destination. In the case of mitosis, the dynein is stationary — to an extent — “[acting] as winch to pull on the spindle pole, and the microtubules and chromosomes attached to it”. You may remember that at each end of the dividing cell is a spindle pole from which extends microtubules that attached to the chromosomes and direct their movement. Eventuall, these spindles will help pull the duplicated chromosome apart so each cell gets its own full set of DNA.

Kiyomitsu saw that when the spindle comes close to the edge of the cell, the dynein is signaled to hop off, move to the other end of the cell and pull from this other side. This switch up continues until the spindle aligns in the center. Kiyomitsu also found that dynein can also only attach certain points near the chromosome, contributing to its alignment.

Whitehead Institute Researcher Figures Out What Causes Chromosomes to Align Along Center Axis During Mitosis

Phases of mitosis. (Image via Cantor's Biology Blog)

“People have been looking at these proteins and players in mitosis for decades, and no one ever saw what Tomomi observed,” says Whitehead Institute Member Iain Cheeseman. “And it’s very clear that these things are happening. These are very strong regulatory paradigms that are setting down these cell division axes. And careful cell biology allowed him to see that this was occurring. People have been looking at this for a long time, but never with the careful eyes he brought to it.”

While you may not consider alignment of the chromosomes along the axis of the utmost importance in cell division, it actually is. An improperly divided cell can lead to cell death, disorders and cancer. Understanding what exactly helps the chromosomes align for proper division could help researchers with treatments for certain disorders in the future.

“The spindle orientation is critical for maintaining the balance between stem cells and mature cells during development,” Kiyomitsu said in a statement. “And if this orientation becomes dysregulated or misregulated, it is reported that this may contribute to causing cancer even if chromosomes are properly segregated.”

Comments (57)

1 2
  • GotLead
    Posted on February 14, 2012 at 4:18pm

    I think now in science class there teaching highschoolers safe sex and basic plant functions because there all to dumb to learn this stuff anymore.

    Report Post » GotLead  
    • KnowThySelf
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 12:06am

      Yes, I‘m sure it’s because “they’re“ ”too” dumb to learn science-related materials. “They’re“ probably ”too” stupid to learn basic spelling and grammar rules as well. But that couldn’t possibly be the result of “their” education because you’re doing it as well…

      If you’re going to criticize the education of the youth of America, at least take the time to make a coherent sentence. Not doing so makes you look foolish.

      Report Post » KnowThySelf  
  • THX-1138
    Posted on February 14, 2012 at 3:51pm

    When the Buddha was asked about the origin and fate of the universe he remained silent.

    When you understand why then you are one step closer…

    Report Post » THX-1138  
  • Infidelephant
    Posted on February 14, 2012 at 1:20pm

    Don’t you know? Your typical Blaze reader cares little about real science…

    Report Post » Infidelephant  
    • tommy1945
      Posted on February 14, 2012 at 1:49pm

      thank you, Blaze, for including such topics as this one. We didn’t know about DNA when I went through sophomore biology… (rocks and fire were still pretty new)… I shall look forward to some pleasant hours becoming acquainted with “the six phases of mitosis”. thank you.

      Report Post » tommy1945  
    • lcltcc
      Posted on February 14, 2012 at 2:36pm

      I guess I am not typical, I enjoyed the mini biology refresher course, and the fact that they discovered the role of the protein. Lifelong learner I am.

      Report Post »  
    • justin.blake
      Posted on April 19, 2012 at 11:27am

      And this all happened by accident right? Random chance? These kind of articles reinforce my belief that a higher power was involved in the process. Thanks Blaze!

      Report Post » justin.blake  
  • TomFerrari
    Posted on February 14, 2012 at 12:04pm

    All I remember is the mnemonic, “IPMAT.”
    I don’t recall a “Pro-Metaphase” though.
    I guess it is IPPMAT now.

    Has anybody seen Pluto lately? I heard we lost one of our planets.
    LOL

    Report Post » TomFerrari  
  • mapgirl10
    Posted on February 14, 2012 at 11:50am

    Now Soros and Obama can clone themselves and live forever….lol

    Report Post »  
  • Ghandi was a Republican
    Posted on February 14, 2012 at 11:49am

    All I care about is a cure for liberal disease and the gene responsible. Then we can worry about the lesser ills of cancers etc..

    Report Post » Ghandi was a Republican  
    • EchoHawk
      Posted on February 14, 2012 at 2:41pm

      Then by that logic conservatism would be genetic as well. So is conservatism the absence of a particular chromosome or the addition of one?

      Report Post »  
  • Cornerstone1
    Posted on February 14, 2012 at 11:16am

    I highly recommend the book by Stephen C. Meyer, Signature in the Cell – DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design. It is a very readable, yet detailed and specific presentation about the function and origins of the cell. Most all information below is sourced from this book.

    A protein is a specific sequence of amino acids (of which there are 20 required for life). If one amino acid is left out, added, or in the wrong spot, the protein won’t function. Additionally, the protein must be folded into the correct structural 3D geometric shape.

    Elemental particles can interact with each other only so many times per second (at most 10^43 per second ). There are a limited number of elementary particles (10^80) in the observable universe. There is a limited amount of time since the big bang (10^16 seconds). 10^139 is the total number of events available in the entire observable universe to create life.

    The probability of producing a single 150 amino acid functional protein by chance stands at about 1 in 10^164. The number of resources/opportunities needed to form a single protein exceeds the resources of the entire universe by 24 orders of magnitude. If every event in the universe over its entire history were devoted to producing combinations of amino acids of the correct length in a prebiotic soup of the universe, less than 1 out of a trillion trillion events are missing for a 50-50 chance of creating a single protein of 150 amino acids in length. Continued…

    Report Post »  
    • Cornerstone1
      Posted on February 14, 2012 at 11:17am

      Continued…

      Of course, the elements on Mars, other galaxies, and the universe itself aren’t of much help to the pinpoint location of Earth and a single cell.

      If we assume a minimally complex cell needs at least 250 proteins of, on average, 150 amino acids, and the chances of one of those proteins being created by chance are 1 in 10^164, then the chance of a minimally complex one celled organism being created by chance are 1 in 10^41000 (a 1 with 41,000 zeros after it).

      The Dynein protein talked about in this article has a heavy chain constructed with over 4000 amino acids (http://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/groups/cartera/research-background.html) that must be specifically in the correct order and 3D geometric shape. The odds of that single protein being created by chance are beyond the universe’s ability.

      Numbers of such magnitude leave plenty of room for fudge factor errors to be irrelevant. It is clear that an intelligent designer – God – is required for life to have begun, and this above article is only a hint at the complexity God used to create life. Read Signature in the Cell; for such a heavy topic, it is a good read, and you will not be disappointed.

      Report Post »  
    • Firebrand
      Posted on February 14, 2012 at 12:46pm

      @corner
      There are a couple of things I want to adjust in your statements. As someone who studies the effects that changing and replacing amino acids in proteins has on their structure and function, I have to tell you that changing a single amino acid won’t necessarily prevent a protein from functioning or folding correctly. In fact, there is quite a bit of leeway and proteins are very accommodating to mutations.

      With that being said, there are a few amino acids that are in specific positions that are extremely important (conserved residues). These same amino acids typically exist in the same spot in the protein structure across whole protein families. All the amino acids are pretty much divided into the residues that like water and are on the outside of the protein, the residues that don’t like water and are on the inside of the protein, and the residues that don’t care whether they are on the inside or outside (obviously this is a little different for membrane proteins, but you get the gist).

      As far as your probability numbers, one thing I would like to point out is that the unique properties of Earth decrease the “randomness” in the degrees of freedom (essentially, you can’t calculate the chance for whole universe, as the matter on Earth is pretty much contained, increasing the probability of a random collision between particles). Earth is a semi-open/semi-closed system depending on whether you are an optimist or a pessimist. =o)

      Report Post » Firebrand  
  • cranberry
    Posted on February 14, 2012 at 9:42am

    Of course I remember Anaphase, Metaphase and Prophase, This is when Edward and Belle fell in love, in the lab at school!

    Report Post » cranberry  
  • TROONORTH
    Posted on February 14, 2012 at 8:58am

    “The spindle orientation is critical for maintaining the balance …”

    Nothing new there. I knew that way back in the ’50s while trying to get the 45s on the record player.

    Report Post » TROONORTH  
  • AuntiEm
    Posted on February 14, 2012 at 7:35am

    Is this proof of the Adam’s rib story? Just looking at the daughter chromosomes.

    Report Post »  
    • Pontiac
      Posted on February 14, 2012 at 11:20am

      Maybe if you believe the poor translations you supposedly read sourced from a primitive language that was written by who really knows who and had to be word of mouth (lol human error) for centuries before that. Even then, no.

      Report Post » Pontiac  
    • KnowThySelf
      Posted on February 14, 2012 at 11:55pm

      I truly hope this is a joke. Just…No.

      Report Post » KnowThySelf  
  • democritusoilder267
    Posted on February 14, 2012 at 6:38am

    Very interesting news Blaze. Thanks for sharing. We’re finding out more about our bodies every year it seems. I wonder what will happen next?

    Report Post » democritusoilder267  
    • Your Name Here
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 7:43am

      Obama will try to tax the cells for manufacturing and the EPA will try to ban their use of chemicals.

      Report Post » Your Name Here  
  • raderby
    Posted on February 14, 2012 at 5:37am

    And now you see the core of nanobot technology as humans learn from God one more time.

    Report Post » raderby  
  • ohmy2u
    Posted on February 14, 2012 at 4:17am

    For those of you who don’t believe in Creator God, tell me how the cells know not only how, but when to form organs in the fetus. When to form the eyes, the lungs, the brain, the heart, the liver, ect… How did the umbilical cord evolve over time. If it had, there would not have been life flowing through it to the fetus. Irreducible complexity…
    It’s interesting, people that supposedly don’t believe in God want to still blame Him for bad things. Interesting, isn’t it?! I don’t care who calls themselves atheists, everyone who is in an airplane that is plummeting to the ground, is praying.
    Did the emotion of love evolve? Can you tell where it came from? If there was hate before love, how did anyone survive?
    Job 38 says it all! I have some questions for you,
    and I want some straight answers.
    Where were you when I created the earth?
    Tell me, since you know so much!
    Who decided on its size? Certainly you’ll know that!
    Who came up with the blueprints and measurements?
    How was its foundation poured,
    and who set the cornerstone,
    While the morning stars sang in chorus
    and all the angels shouted praise?
    And who took charge of the ocean
    when it gushed forth like a baby from the womb?
    That was me! I wrapped it in soft clouds,
    and tucked it in safely at night.
    Then I made a playpen for it,
    a strong playpen so it couldn’t run loose,
    And said, ‘Stay here, this is your place.
    Your wild tantrums are confine
    http://www.izoominews.blogspot.com

    Report Post » ohmy2u  
  • ohmy2u
    Posted on February 14, 2012 at 4:14am

    31-33 “Can you catch the eye of the beautiful Pleiades sisters,
    or distract Orion from his hunt?
    Can you get Venus to look your way,
    or get the Great Bear and her cubs to come out and play?
    Do you know the first thing about the sky’s constellations
    and how they affect things on Earth?

    34-35 “Can you get the attention of the clouds,
    and commission a shower of rain?
    Can you take charge of the lightning bolts
    and have them report to you for orders?

    Report Post » ohmy2u  
  • ohmy2u
    Posted on February 14, 2012 at 4:08am

    For those of you who don’t believe in Creator God, tell me how the cells know not only how, but when to form organs in the fetus. When to form the eyes, the lungs, the brain, the heart, the liver, ect… How did the umbilical cord evolve over time. If it had, there would not have been life flowing through it to the fetus. Irreducible complexity…
    It’s interesting, people that supposedly don’t believe in God want to still blame Him for bad things. Interesting, isn’t it?! I don’t care who calls themselves atheists, everyone who is in an airplane that is plummeting to the ground, is praying.
    Did the emotion of love evolve? Can you tell where it came from? If there was hate before love, how did anyone survive?
    Job 38 says it all! I have some questions for you,
    and I want some straight answers.
    Where were you when I created the earth?
    Tell me, since you know so much!
    Who decided on its size? Certainly you’ll know that!
    Who came up with the blueprints and measurements?
    How was its foundation poured,
    and who set the cornerstone,
    While the morning stars sang in chorus
    and all the angels shouted praise?
    And who took charge of the ocean
    when it gushed forth like a baby from the womb?
    That was me! I wrapped it in soft clouds,
    and tucked it in safely at night.
    Then I made a playpen for it,
    a strong playpen so it couldn’t run loose,
    And said, ‘Stay here, this is your place.
    Your wild tantrums are confine

    Report Post » ohmy2u  
  • AB5r
    Posted on February 13, 2012 at 10:41pm

    Calculations have been done using statistics and probabilities which show how even if you allow for mutations to occur every X seconds or minutes whatever the case may be, and then giving all the benefit of the doubt to the process that it gets it right almost immediately, there wouldn’t be enough time in the history of the world, assuming again that the evolutionists are right, however many billions of years, for the world as we see it to have evolved.

    Report Post » AB5r  
    • Cesium
      Posted on February 14, 2012 at 1:44am

      mutations can change speed depending on what is in the environment. fyi

      Report Post »  
    • The Third Archon
      Posted on February 14, 2012 at 3:31am

      “mutations can change speed depending on what is in the environment. fyi”
      And also due to a complex interplay of factors reflected in ongoing cyclical interaction between extant organisms at any given time not captured by this simple probabilistic guesses–the sheer fact of the matter is that such arguments are at best SWAGs–scientific (or pseudo-scientific in some cases) wild ass guesses. There is a great deal of variability both known and unknown (and thus currently impossible to account for) in such speculative and long-ranging generalizations.

      Report Post » The Third Archon  
    • TROONORTH
      Posted on February 14, 2012 at 9:02am

      OH, OH, OH! You have finally convinced me to believe, as do you, in a big white bearded guy living on a cloud in heaven who is pulling all the strings and dispensing magic like cancer, child molestors and rabid muslims.

      And the first person who says “These things were sent to test us.” gets a free plague of locusts and a disease of your choice.

      Report Post » TROONORTH  
  • ZeroOff4impact
    Posted on February 13, 2012 at 10:25pm

    This could only be an accident except it must occur exactly. Could there be laws of nature ? Who could or would write those laws ? Nah. Has to be an accident . Thank you God.

    Report Post » ZeroOff4impact  
    • Cesium
      Posted on February 14, 2012 at 1:45am

      yea, god. thanks for the cancer too. See what you want to see pal

      Report Post »  
    • bullcrapbuster
      Posted on February 14, 2012 at 4:05am

      @cesium…We are mortal and imperfect so we get diseases. Our resurected bodies will be imortal. But I cast my pearls into the pen for the swine to trample on.

      Report Post » bullcrapbuster  
  • jb.kibs
    Posted on February 13, 2012 at 10:25pm

    i like science and biology, but at the same time when i see charts like this i think,
    “Here’s some charts and words, it has to make sense to the average person because look, CHARTS!” lol… ;)

    Report Post »  
  • trinklefinder
    Posted on February 13, 2012 at 10:10pm

    My eyes glazed over at the beginning of the second paragraph. Now I remember why I skipped biology and left to go smoke the weedage with my buds.

    Report Post » trinklefinder  
    • Cesium
      Posted on February 14, 2012 at 1:46am

      you and evangelical christians are why our country is going straight to sheeeet

      Report Post »  
    • Cesium
      Posted on February 14, 2012 at 1:46am

      and socialist liberals

      Report Post »  
  • Searchingforthelight
    Posted on February 13, 2012 at 9:48pm

    Multiplication of the cancerous cells is the problem. Stop it before, during is certainly a preference to after it has started.

    Report Post »  
    • jb.kibs
      Posted on February 13, 2012 at 10:37pm

      Cancer is like karma… it’s a b!tch…
      the more sin in which you partake the higher risk of cancer you will have.
      The Amish rarely get cancer… just saying… Good Clean Living. ;)

      Report Post »  
  • wmcritter
    Posted on February 13, 2012 at 9:14pm

    And remember, all of this finely tuned mechanical precision is purely an accident. There was no intelligent design at work here at all.

    Report Post »  
    • ThurstonHowellIV
      Posted on February 13, 2012 at 9:31pm

      Intelligent design? Perish the thought. Why, the next thing you know you’ll be asking us to believe in some omnipotent creator who has endowed us with unalienable rights! And that kind of talk is sure to make the permanent overlords unhappy.

      Report Post » ThurstonHowellIV  
    • We are Americans
      Posted on February 13, 2012 at 9:32pm

      Lol. Yup. Just randomly happened. Beyond that
      I got lost in all the big words. I’m not as smart
      as I’d like to think. But I do know that can’t
      happen by accident

      Report Post »  
    • swenk
      Posted on February 13, 2012 at 10:25pm

      For sure… even a peripheral glance at the wonders that happen inside our cells (any living cell) is something that I think would make most anyone consider the existence of God… of a Higher Power…

      Report Post »  
    • jb.kibs
      Posted on February 13, 2012 at 10:26pm

      do we not create life in labs?
      is that not “creationism”?

      Report Post »  
    • jb.kibs
      Posted on February 13, 2012 at 10:40pm

      yes, God is the ultimate creator because God can create Seeds. Seeds are potential life and hold answers we may never achieve.

      Report Post »  
    • KAdams
      Posted on February 14, 2012 at 10:59am

      @JB kids:

      If anything is ‘created’ in a lab, it’s done with things already created by God. God created everything without the help of ‘tools’ or ‘labs’.

      Report Post »  
    • punyhuman
      Posted on February 15, 2012 at 12:03am

      Some scientists found out how to manipulate genes and chromosomes and other stuff and actually made some viable seeds in a laboratory. So they challenged God to a contest to see who could create the most useful form of life, and the winner would leave the universe, permanently. God agreed, with one condition. The scientists would have to create their own dirt. The scientists declined.

      Report Post »  
  • machochris
    Posted on February 13, 2012 at 9:06pm

    I think I saw a marching band do that at a football game…

    Report Post »  
  • Stoic one
    Posted on February 13, 2012 at 8:17pm

    Interesting..

    Report Post » Stoic one  
  • SychinLegacy
    Posted on February 13, 2012 at 8:07pm

    Wait MIT just figured this out? My genetics professor last year already knew this… MIT needs to pick up the pace.

    Report Post » SychinLegacy  
  • sgtstubbs
    Posted on February 13, 2012 at 7:54pm

    If what they say here is true, then many divisions between speices indicate you can have parallium evolving…..

    Report Post » sgtstubbs  
    • Twobyfour
      Posted on February 13, 2012 at 9:51pm

      Pardon me? Can you translate it to English, my babelfisk is not working.

      Report Post » Twobyfour  
    • WEBWITHDEB
      Posted on February 13, 2012 at 10:59pm

      Hmmm. Might that explain the different blood types and Rh +, – properties in humans?

      Report Post »  
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