Our latest work, led by Taylor Mahoney is now preprinted.

Taylor and lab ‘mascot’ Thelonius, proudly holding the new preprint

In this work, Taylor and other co-authors investigated the mechanics of dividing fission yeast.

The fission yeast S. pombe undergoes closed mitosis, meaning the nuclear envelope remains intact through the entirety of division. Here, we investigate how force can trigger a biochemical response through two methods: the lipid synthesis inhibitor cerulenin and using an optical trap to trap lipid vesicles. Despite a reduction in microtubule number, we observe an increase in Ase1 and Klp5 at the spindle midzone. While Klp5/6 minimally affect the spindle’s response to increased force, this force in the absence of Ase1 triggers a biochemical response to rescue the spindle stability via increased microtubule number. Together, our findings reveal that nuclear force on the spindle does not merely alter its shape, but is key in regulating its biochemistry to maintain force balance.

Figure 5, Taylor’s favorite from this manuscript.