Author(s)

Lucian John Gagliardi

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Camden, USA.

Recent experiments revealing possible nanoscale electrostatic interactions in force generation at kinetochores for chromosome motions have prompted speculation regarding possible models for interactions between positively charged molecules in kinetochores and negative charge on C-termini near the plus ends of microtubules. A clear picture of how kinetochores establish and maintain a dynamic coupling to microtubules for force generation during the complex motions of mitosis remains elusive. The molecular cell biology paradigm requires that specific molecules, or molecular geometries, for force generation be identified. However, it is possible to account for mitotic chromosome motions within a systems approach in terms of experimentally known cellular electric charge distributions interacting over nanometer distances.

Mitotic Chromosome Motions; Systems Approach; Ndc80/Hec1; Electrostatic Force

L. Gagliardi, "Systems Approach to Mitotic Chromosome Motions," Open Journal of Biophysics, Vol. 3 No. 2, 2013, pp. 133-147. doi: 10.4236/ojbiphy.2013.32017.