Mitotic Spindle: Disturbing a Subtle Balance

Mitotic spindles maintain a roughly constant length in metaphase, so the forces between the spindle poles are balanced. A new study involving screening molecules believed to mediate this force balance has found that spindle length is relatively insensitive to perturbations of molecular motor force-generating activities, but more sensitive to perturbation of microtubule assembly regulators and chromosome cohesion. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]