Mechanically Distinct Microtubule Arrays Determine the Length and Force Response of the Meiotic Spindle.

The microtubule-based spindle is subjected to various mechanical forces during cell division. How the structure generates and responds to forces while maintaining overall integrity is unknown because we have a poor understanding of the relationship between filament architecture and mechanics. Here, to fill this gap, we combine microneedle-based quantitative micromanipulation with high-resolution imaging, simultaneously analyzing forces and local filament motility in the Xenopus meiotic spindle. We find that microtubules exhibit a compliant, fluid-like mechanical response at the middle of the spindle half, being distinct from those near the pole and the equator. A force altering spindle length induces filament sliding at this compliant array, where parallel microtubules predominate, without influencing equatorial antiparallel filament dynamics. Molecular perturbations suggest that kinesin-5 and dynein contribute to the spindle's local mechanical difference. Together, our data establish a link between spindle architecture and mechanics and uncover the mechanical design of this essential cytoskeletal assembly.

High-quality frozen extracts of Xenopus laevis eggs reveal size-dependent control of metaphase spindle micromechanics.

Cell-free extracts from unfertilized Xenopus laevis eggs offer the opportunity for a variety of biochemical and biophysical assays for analyzing essential cell cycle events such as metaphase spindle assembly. However, the extracts often exhibit substantial variation in quality and have low storage stability, factors that hamper their experimental utility. Here we report a simple two-step method for preparing frozen egg extracts that retain spindle assembly activity levels similar to those of freshly prepared extracts. Extract degradation associated with the freeze-thaw process can be substantially reduced by using centrifugal filter-based dehydration and slow sample cooling. Large amounts of frozen extract stocks from single-batch preparations allowed us to collect extensive data in micromanipulation experiments, which are often low-throughput, and thus enabled the clarification of correlations between metaphase spindle size and stiffness. Our method provides an assay platform with minimized biological variability and improves the accessibility of egg extracts for research.

Spatial confinement of active microtubule networks induces large-scale rotational cytoplasmic flow.

Collective behaviors of motile units through hydrodynamic interactions induce directed fluid flow on a larger length scale than individual units. In cells, active cytoskeletal systems composed of polar filaments and molecular motors drive fluid flow, a process known as cytoplasmic streaming. The motor-driven elongation of microtubule bundles generates turbulent-like flow in purified systems; however, it remains unclear whether and how microtubule bundles induce large-scale directed flow like the cytoplasmic streaming observed in cells. Here, we adopted Xenopus egg extracts as a model system of the cytoplasm and found that microtubule bundle elongation induces directed flow for which the length scale and timescale depend on the existence of geometrical constraints. At the lower activity of dynein, kinesins bundle and slide microtubules, organizing extensile microtubule bundles. In bulk extracts, the extensile bundles connected with each other and formed a random network, and vortex flows with a length scale comparable to the bundle length continually emerged and persisted for 1 min at multiple places. When the extracts were encapsulated in droplets, the extensile bundles pushed the droplet boundary. This pushing force initiated symmetry breaking of the randomly oriented bundle network, leading to bundles aligning into a rotating vortex structure. This vortex induced rotational cytoplasmic flows on the length scale and timescale that were 10- to 100-fold longer than the vortex flows emerging in bulk extracts. Our results suggest that microtubule systems use not only hydrodynamic interactions but also mechanical interactions to induce large-scale temporally stable cytoplasmic flow.

Endoplasmic-reticulum-mediated microtubule alignment governs cytoplasmic streaming.

Cytoplasmic streaming refers to a collective movement of cytoplasm observed in many cell types. The mechanism of meiotic cytoplasmic streaming (MeiCS) in Caenorhabditis elegans zygotes is puzzling as the direction of the flow is not predefined by cell polarity and occasionally reverses. Here, we demonstrate that the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) network structure is required for the collective flow. Using a combination of RNAi, microscopy and image processing of C. elegans zygotes, we devise a theoretical model, which reproduces and predicts the emergence and reversal of the flow. We propose a positive-feedback mechanism, where a local flow generated along a microtubule is transmitted to neighbouring regions through the ER. This, in turn, aligns microtubules over a broader area to self-organize the collective flow. The proposed model could be applicable to various cytoplasmic streaming phenomena in the absence of predefined polarity. The increased mobility of cortical granules by MeiCS correlates with the efficient exocytosis of the granules to protect the zygotes from osmotic and mechanical stresses.

Micromechanics of the vertebrate meiotic spindle examined by stretching along the pole-to-pole axis.

The meiotic spindle is a bipolar molecular machine that is designed to segregate duplicated chromosomes toward the opposite poles of the cell. The size and shape of the spindle are considered to be maintained by a balance of forces produced by molecular motors and microtubule assembly dynamics. Several studies have probed how mechanical perturbations of the force balance affect the spindle structure. However, the spindle's response to a stretching force acting at the spindle pole and along its long axis, i.e., the direction in which chromosomes are segregated, has not been examined. Here, we describe a method to apply a stretching force to the metaphase spindle assembled in Xenopus egg extracts and measure the relationship between the force and the three-dimensional deformation of the spindle. We found that the spindle behaves as a Zener-type viscoelastic body when forces are applied at the spindle pole, generating a restoring force for several minutes. In addition, both the volume of the spindle and the tubulin density are conserved under the stretching force. These results provide insight into how the spindle size is maintained at metaphase.

Using micromanipulation to analyze control of vertebrate meiotic spindle size.

The polymerization/depolymerization dynamics of microtubules (MTs) have been reported to contribute to control of the size and shape of spindles, but quantitative analysis of how the size and shape correlate with the amount and density of MTs in the spindle remains incomplete. Here, we measured these parameters using 3D microscopy of meiotic spindles that self-organized in Xenopus egg extracts and presented a simple equation describing the relationship among these parameters. To examine the validity of the equation, we cut the spindle into two fragments along the pole-to-pole axis by micromanipulation techniques that rapidly decrease the amount of MTs. The spheroidal shape spontaneously recovered within 5 min, but the size of each fragment remained small. The equation we obtained quantitatively describes how the spindle size correlates with the amount of MTs while maintaining the shape and the MT density.

Chromosome position at the spindle equator is regulated by chromokinesin and a bipolar microtubule array.

The chromosome alignment is mediated by polar ejection and poleward forces acting on the chromosome arm and kinetochores, respectively. Although components of the motile machinery such as chromokinesin have been characterized, their dynamics within the spindle is poorly understood. Here we show that a quantum dot (Qdot) binding up to four Xenopus chromokinesin (Xkid) molecules behaved like a nanosize chromosome arm in the meiotic spindle, which is self-organized in cytoplasmic egg extracts. Xkid-Qdots travelled long distances along microtubules by changing several tracks, resulting in their accumulation toward and distribution around the metaphase plate. The analysis indicated that the direction of motion and velocity depend on the distribution of microtubule polarity within the spindle. Thus, this mechanism is governed by chromokinesin motors, which is dependent on symmetrical microtubule orientation that may allow chromosomes to maintain their position around the spindle equator until correct microtubule-kinetochore attachment is established.

Responses of chromosome segregation machinery to mechanical perturbations.

For genome stability, the proper segregation of chromosomes is required. The exquisite process of chromosome segregation has charmed a lot of cell- and molecular biologists into watching what happens inside a mitotic cell and how each molecule contributes to this process for the accomplishment of accurate cell division1. The process to partition the duplicated genome to the daughter cells in each cell division is mediated by a self-organized structure called the mitotic spindle. It is well known that the mitotic spindle is a multi-component macromolecular machine composed of microtubules, molecular motors (kinesins, cytoplasmic dynein), and other regulatory molecules (microtubule-associated proteins, kinases, etc.). In recent years, most of the protein components of the mitotic spindle have been identified and the functions of these proteins have been characterized using molecular perturbations2,3. Thus, the mechanisms for spindle assembly and chromosome segregation are being revealed rapidly. However, the chromosome segregation machinery is poorly understood from the mechanical point of view, such as how the mitotic spindle within a cell responds to a variety of mechanical forces, originating from cell-cell interactions or environmental fluctuations. Recent advances in the controlled mechanical perturbation have indicated that the mitotic spindle possesses a structural pliability, size adaptability to the applied external forces, and a strong self-organizing ability. Mechanical perturbations revealed also the mechanochemical regulation of chromosome segregation machinery, which responds to the applied forces. Here, we discuss the current progress in the biophysical research on the architectural and functional dynamics of the mitotic spindle.

Experimental demonstration of spin geometric phase: radius dependence of time-reversal Aharonov-Casher oscillations.

A geometric phase of electron spin is studied in arrays of InAlAs/InGaAs two-dimensional electron gas rings. By increasing the radius of the rings, the time-reversal symmetric Aharonov-Casher oscillations of the electrical resistance are shifted towards weaker spin-orbit interaction regions with their shortened period. We conclude that the shift is due to a modulation of the spin geometric phase, the maximum modulation of which is approximately 1.5 rad. We further show that the Aharonov-Casher oscillations in various radius arrays collapse onto a universal curve if the radius and the strength of Rashba spin-orbit interaction are taken into account. The result is interpreted as the observation of the effective spin-dependent flux through a ring.

NiCl2(PMe3)(2)-catalyzed borylation of aryl chlorides.

The cross-coupling of aryl chlorides and bis(pinacolato)diboron was achieved using NiCl(2)(PMe(3))(2) catalyst in the presence of metal 2,2,2-trifluoroethoxide. The catalyst smoothly provided the desired products regardless of a variety of functional groups and substituted positions.

Extraction of some univalent salts into 1,2-dichloroethane and nitrobenzene: analysis of overall extraction equilibrium based on elucidating ion-pair formation and evaluation of standard potentials for ion transfers at the interfaces between their diluents and water.

Sodium permanganate, sodium picrate (NaPic), Bu(4)NPic, Me(4)NPic, and Et(4)NPic were extracted at an ionic strength of 2 × 10(-5) to 0.08 mol dm(-3) and 25°C from water (w)-phases into the organic (o)-ones, 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE) and nitrobenzene (NB). Thereby, apparent distribution constants (K(D,±)) of the anions (A(-)) or the cations (M(+)) and ion-pair formation ones (K(MA)(org)) of the univalent salts (MA) in the o-phases were determined at 25 °C, where K(D,±) = ([A(-)](o)[M(+)](o)/[A(-)][M(+)])(1/2) = (K(D,A)K(D,M))(1/2) and K(MA)(org) = [MA](o)/[M(+)](o)[A(-)](o). Also, the K(ex) and K(D,MA) values with A(-) = Pic(-), MnO(4)(-) were estimated from the relations K(ex) (= [MA](o)/[M(+)][A(-)]) = K(MA)(org)(K(D,±))(2) and = K(MA)K(D,MA), respectively. Standard potentials (Δψ(tr)(0)) for ion transfers at the w/DCE and w/NB interfaces were evaluated from the log K(D,A) or log K(D,M) values by assuming the relations K(D,Pic) = K(D,Et4N) and = K(D,Me4N), respectively. The thus-obtained Δψ(tr)(0) values, especially for the w/DCE system, were in good agreement with the values based on the extra-thermodynamic assumption for Ph(4)As(+) and BPh(4)(-) transfers at the interfaces. In the present extraction systems, the ion-pair formation of MA in the w- and o-phases was less effective in the determination of their distribution constants into the two o-phases.

Probing the mechanical architecture of the vertebrate meiotic spindle.

Accurate chromosome segregation during meiosis depends on the assembly of a microtubule-based spindle of proper shape and size. Current models for spindle-size control focus on reaction diffusion-based chemical regulation and balance in activities of motor proteins. Although several molecular perturbations have been used to test these models, controlled mechanical perturbations have not been possible. Here we report a piezoresistive dual cantilever-based system to test models for spindle-size control and examine the mechanical features, such as deformability and stiffness, of the vertebrate meiotic spindle. We found that meiotic spindles prepared in Xenopus laevis egg extracts were viscoelastic and recovered their original shape in response to small compression. Larger compression resulted in plastic deformation, but the spindle adapted to this change, establishing a stable mechanical architecture at different sizes. The technique we describe here may also be useful for examining the micromechanics of other cellular organelles.

Vinylic C--H borylation of cyclic vinyl ethers with bis(pinacolato)diboron catalyzed by an Iridium(I)-dtbpy complex.

Borylation of the vinylic C--H bond of 1,4-dioxene, 2,3-dihydrofuran, 3,4-dihydro-2H-pyran and their gamma-substituted analogs was carried out in the presence of bis(pinacolato)diboron (B(2)pin(2)) and a catalytic amount of Ir(I)-dtbpy (dtbpy=4,4'-di-tert-butyl-2,2'-bipyridine) complex. The two boron atoms in B(2)pin(2) participated in the coupling, thus giving two equivalents of the coupling product from one equivalent of B(2)pin(2). The borylation of 1,4-dioxene in hexane resulted in 81 % yield at room temperature. The borylation of 2,3-dihydrofurans at 80 degrees C in octane suffered from low regioselectivity, and gave a mixture of alpha- and beta-coupling products even for hindered gamma-disubstituted analogs, but gamma-substituted analogs of 3,4-dihydro-2H-pyran achieved high alpha-selectivity, giving single coupling products. This protocol was applied to the syntheses of a key precursor of vineomycinone B2 methyl ester and other C-substituted D-glucals by borylation of protected D-glucals with B(2)pin(2) to give alpha-boryl glucal followed by cross-coupling with haloarenes, benzyl bromide, and allyl bromide. A catalytic cycle that involves the oxidative addition of sp(2) C--H bond to iridium(III)-trisboryl intermediate as the rate-determining step has been proposed.

Palladium-catalyzed chloroimination of imidoyl chlorides to a triple bond: an intramolecular reaction leading to 4-chloroquinolines.

In this paper, a new type of effective chloroimination was reported. This reaction afforded 4-chloro-2-perfluoroalkyl quinolines from fluorinated imidoyl chlorides in high yields. This is the first achievement of oxidative addition-reductive elimination type C-Cl bond activation by chloropalladation.

DNA base composition, susceptibility to bacteriophages and interspecific transformation as criteria for classification in the genus Bacillus.

With 25 strains belonging to 12 species of the genus Bacillus, the base composition of DNA, the susceptibility to bacteriophages, and the ability to transform Bacillus subtilis strain Marburg were studied. Analyses of phage DNAs were also performed. The results were as follows: (1) The DNA base compositions were not uniform even among strains belonging to one taxonomic species. (2) The DNAs extracted from B. natto, B. megaterium and B. polymyxa could transform genetic traits of B. subtilis Marburg although the frequencies were not equal. (3) The host ranges of some temperate bacteriophages were correlated with the taxonomical data. On these bases, the phylogenetic relatedness of B. subtilis to B. megaterium was discussed.

Palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction of bis(pinacolato)diboron with 1-alkenyl halides or triflates: convenient synthesis of unsymmetrical 1,3-dienes via the borylation-coupling sequence.

The synthesis of 1-alkenylboronic acid pinacol esters via a palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction of bis(pinacolato)diboron (pin(2)B(2), pin = Me(4)C(2)O(2)) with 1-alkenyl halides or triflates was carried out in toluene at 50 degrees C in the presence of KOPh (1.5 equiv) and PdCl(2)(PPh(3))(2)-2Ph(3)P (3 mol %). The borylation of acyclic and cyclic 1-alkenyl bromides and triflates was achieved in high yields with complete retention of configuration of the double bonds. The method was applied to the one-pot synthesis of unsymmetrical 1,3-dienes via the borylation-coupling sequence.

Mild iridium-catalyzed borylation of arenes. High turnover numbers, room temperature reactions, and isolation of a potential intermediate.

The borylation of arenes leads to the formation of synthetically versatile products from unactivated arene reagents. We report that Ir(I) precursors in conjunction with bipyridine ligands catalyze in high yields the borylation of arenes under mild conditions. These reactions encompase arenes bearing both electron-withdrawing and electron-donating substituents. The temperatures required for the transformation are much lower than those previously reported for direct arene borylation. The combination of [Ir(COE)2Cl]2 and (4,4-di-t-butyl)bipyridine even allows for reaction at room temperature. The same catalyst system at 100 degrees C provides remarkably high turnover numbers for a hydrocarbon functionalization process. Mechanistic studies show that the reactions involve uncommon, Ir(II) tris-boryl complexes. An example of this type of complex ligated by di-t-butylbipyridine was isolated and structurally characterized. It reacted rapidly at room temperature to produce aryl boronate esters in high yields.