Mechanisms ensuring sister kinetochore bi-orientation on the mitotic spindle

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To make a human body from a single cell (a fertilized egg), an enormous number of cell divisions must take place. Human cells store their genetic information within 46 structures called chromosomes. To maintain this genetic information, all chromosomes must be precisely copied and each daughter cell must receive one copy of each chromosome upon each cell division. Failure in this process may cause cancers and genetic abnormalities. The aim of our research project is to clarify the fundamental mechanisms by which all chromosomes are properly inherited by daughter cells. Because such mechanisms are similar in yeast and human cells, we will use yeast as our research material. Yeast has a number of advantages over human cells for our study, for instance the roles of all proteins in the yeast cell have been systematically studied, many mutants have been identified and chromosomes can be easily engineered to suit our experiments. By using microscopy and biochemical methods, we will study the mechanisms of chromosome separation during cell divisions. Revelation of these fundamental mechanisms will help us to understand how various human diseases develop.