biosights: April 15, 2013

Frog oocytes evade the checkpoint

Most dividing cells possess a spindle assembly checkpoint that prevents them from entering anaphase until all their chromosomes are correctly attached to the metaphase spindle. Shao et al. reveal that Xenopus eggs lack this checkpoint, allowing them to undergo meiosis in the absence of microtubules or in the presence of monopolar spindles. This biosights episode presents the paper by Shao et al. from the April 15, 2013 issue of The Journal of Cell Biology and includes an interview with senior author Johné Liu (Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Canada). Produced by Caitlin Sedwick and Ben Short. See the associated paper in JCB for details on the funding provided to support this original research.

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