Get round and stiff for mitosis

Abstract

Cell rounding is a common feature of cell division. The spherical shape that cells adopt during mitosis is apparently neither a simple detachment nor a global softening or stiffening that allows cells to adopt what seems to be a mechanical equilibrium. It is a highly complex mechanical transformation by which membrane folding and peripheral signals focusing can match spindle size in order to ensure a proper cell division. Recent new insight into the mechanism involved will prompt the scientific community to focus on the regulation of the physical links that exist between the lipid bilayer membrane and the underlying actin cytoskeleton since it now appears that these will strongly influence some crucial cellular events such as the spatial organization of cell division. © HFSP Publishing.