Contact: Caroline Perry
cperry@seas.harvard.edu
617-496-1351
Harvard University

Experimental Process / Spindle Architecture

Caption: The top shows a series of fluorescent images of a spindle taken before the cut and at 5 seconds and 10 seconds after the cut. Scale bar, 10 µm. The bottom shows a graphical representation of the cut microtubules. The cut generates new 'plus' ends (red) and new 'minus' ends (green). The newly generated minus ends remain stable, whereas the new plus ends depolymerize, which creates two depolymerization fronts of opposed polarity.

Credit: Jan Brugués, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

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