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Astral microtubules anchor the spindle poles to the cell membrane. Microtubule polymerization is nucleated at the microtubule organizing center. An aster is a cellular structure shaped like a star, consisting of a centrosome and its associated microtubules during the early stages of mitosis in an animal cell.
Micrograph showing condensed chromosomes in blue, kinetochores in pink, and microtubules in green during metaphase of mitosis. In cell biology, the spindle apparatus is the cytoskeletal structure of eukaryotic cells that forms during cell division to separate sister chromatids between daughter cells.
Role of the centrosome in cell cycle progression. Centrosomes are associated with the nuclear membrane during the prophase stage of the cell cycle. During mitosis, the nuclear membrane breaks down, and the centrosome-nucleated microtubules can interact with the chromosomes to build the mitotic spindle.
Microtubule and tubulin metrics [1]. Microtubules are polymers of tubulin that form part of the cytoskeleton and provide structure and shape to eukaryotic cells. Microtubules can be as long as 50 micrometres, as wide as 23 to 27 nm [2] and have an inner diameter between 11 and 15 nm. [3]
On the other hand, microtubules are metastable polymers made of α- and β-tubulin, alternating between growing and shrinking phases, a phenomenon known as dynamic instability. [10] MTs are highly dynamic structures, whose behavior is integrated with kinetochore function to control chromosome movement and segregation.
Mitosis includes four phases: prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase. Prophase is the initial phase when spindle fibers appear that function to move the chromosomes toward opposite poles. This spindle apparatus consists of microtubules, microfilaments and a complex network of various proteins.
Microtubules (MTs) are long proteic filaments, with asymmetric extremities: one end termed "minus" (-) end, relatively stable and close to the centrosome, and an end termed "plus" (+) end, with alternating phases of growth and retraction, exploring the center of the cell searching the chromosomes.
The microtubule-organizing center (MTOC) is a structure found in eukaryotic cells from which microtubules emerge. MTOCs have two main functions: the organization of eukaryotic flagella and cilia and the organization of the mitotic and meiotic spindle apparatus, which separate the chromosomes during cell division.