During central nervous system development in Drosophila, the asymmetric division that neuroblasts undergo (to produce a differentiating ganglion mother cell and a self-renewing neuroblast) requires spindles to align along the apicobasal polarity axis of the neuroblast. In embryonic neuroblasts, evidence suggests that their spindles assemble orthogonal to the polarity axis and then rotate later to align with it; in larval neuroblasts,the spindles assemble aligned with the axis. So, when does the switch from rotational to predetermined spindle alignment occur? On p. 3393, Rebollo and co-workers report that predetermined spindle alignment occurs in all but the first cell cycle of embryonic neuroblasts. The researchers use two-photon confocal microscopy to examine cell divisions in embryonic neuroblasts expressing centrosome and microtubule reporters. The switch between the two spindle orientation modes occurs in the second cell cycle of the neuroblasts,they report, the first division after neuroblasts delaminate from the epithelium. This unexpected result suggests that neuroblasts remain polarised during interphase, but how their polarity is maintained is unclear at present.
Rotation-free neuroblast spindle alignment
Rotation-free neuroblast spindle alignment. Development 15 October 2009; 136 (20): e2003. doi:
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