June 1, 2017

Researchers have discovered important details of a vital process that enables cells to divide correctly into two.

Their findings shed light on the molecular processes that determine how and when key proteins combine, to help create a site required for accurate DNA separation over generations.

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh used biophysical and cell biology techniques to better understand the assembly of a key set of proteins known as Mis18.

Their study offers insights as to how the Mis18 protein complex controls the accumulation of another protein, known as CENP-A.

The CENP-A collects at a site where the dividing cell's DNA - which is packaged into a pair of chromosomes - connects and then divides into two cells.

By studying the molecular mass of the constituent Mis18 proteins as they combined, researchers were able to determine how many proteins of each type assembled to form a functional Mis18 complex.

They also found how a further protein, known as Cdk1, controls the timing of Mis18 assembly, by temporarily modifying one of the proteins involved to prevent it from binding the others.

The study, funded by the Wellcome Trust, was published in EMBO reports.

Dr Jeyaprakash Arulanandam, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Biological Sciences, who led the study, said: "These findings provide valuable insights into how cells help preserve the site essential for equal distribution of their DNA when they divide, and how the timing of this process is tied to the cell cycle."

Explore further: Cell insights shed light on everyday process of renewal and repair

Scientists have gained insights into the fundamental process of cell division, by identifying key steps that ensure cells divide correctly as they undergo repair and growth.

Northwestern Medicine scientists have revealed the role amino-terminal methylation plays in a specific protein in the centromere, a region of the chromosome important in cell division, and how the dysregulation of this protein ...

If you become resistant to insulin, a condition that is a precursor to type 2 diabetes, your body tries to compensate by producing more of the "beta" cells in the pancreas that produce the critical hormone. Researchers have ...

Scientists have shed new light on the fundamental biological process of cell division, thanks to an emerging analytical method.

New findings on how the cells in our bodies are able to renew themselves could aid our understanding of health disorders, including cancer.

The identification of the genes and proteins involved in a biological process, as well as the way they interact, are essential for the understanding of that process. However, often little is known about the dimensions of ...

Once we start coloring our hair, we may be surprised to learn that we begin to have a problem in common with plant biologists: finding the right dye for our roots. In the case of the biologists, just the right chemical is ...

The flightless cormorant is one of a diverse array of animals that live on the Galapagos Islands, which piqued Charles Darwin's scientific curiosity in the 1830s. He hypothesized that altered evolutionary pressures may have ...

Plants are stationary. This means that the way they grow must be highly internally regulated to use the surrounding resources in the most-advantageous way possible.

Passing skills down through the generations, previously thought to be unique to humanity, has been discovered in chimpanzees.

(Phys.org)A pair of professors, one with Charles Darwin University, the other Southern Cross University, both in Australia, has published a Comment piece in the journal Nature decrying the chaotic state regarding the classification ...

Solving a 140-year old taxonomic puzzle, Cornell researchers have identified and described a new species of electric fish from the Ogoou River in Gabon, Africa.

Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more

See the rest here:
Key process for cell division revealed in molecular analysis - Phys.org - Phys.Org