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. 2018 Apr 17;7:F1000 Faculty Rev-468. [Version 1] doi: 10.12688/f1000research.13837.1

Figure 2. Activities of microtubule-organizing kinesins and comparison of two pathways mediating assembly of acentrosomal spindles.

Figure 2.

( A) Illustrations depicting how Kinesins can crosslink microtubules to promote the sliding and clustering necessary for sorting of anti-parallel microtubules and spindle assembly and stability. ( B) Drawing depicts the Ran-Importin pathway described for Xenopus egg extracts. Kinesin 14 interacts with Importin and is inhibited from interacting with microtubules. Importin inhibition is alleviated near the chromosomes, where Ran-GTP concentration is high. Ran-GTP association with Importin allows Kinesin 14 to associate with kinetochore-bound microtubules. Balancing forces from Kinesin 5 stabilize the bipolar spindle. ( C) Illustration of a pathway for meiotic spindle assembly in Drosophila oocytes. Kinesin 14 interacts with 14-3-3 and is inhibited from interacting with non-spindle microtubules. Near the chromosomes, Aurora B phosphorylation dissociates 14-3-3 and unmasks the repressed microtubule-organizing activity of Kinesin 14. As in Xenopus extracts, balancing forces from Kinesin 5 and two additional Kinesins promote assembly and stabilization of the bipolar spindle. AurB, Aurora B; Klp61F, kinesin-like protein 61F (Kinesin 5); MT, microtubule; Ncd, non-claret disjunctional; Sub, subito; XCTK2, Xenopus COOH-terminal kinesin 2 (Kinesin 14).