Molecular analysis of Structural Maintenance of Chromosome (SMC) proteins at the kinetochore

细胞分裂是一个非凡的过程，在这个过程中，细胞生长和分裂形成两个相同的子细胞。要做到这一点，细胞必须完成两个主要任务：a)复制DNA(DNA复制)b)将复制的DNA分子平均分离到两个子细胞(染色体分离)。这两个过程中的任何一个错误都可能导致人类患上癌症和疾病。染色体结构维持(SMC)蛋白是一类从细菌到人类保存的蛋白质家族，对准确的染色体分离是必不可少的。SMC家族的成员在组织染色体的高级结构中起着至关重要的作用。但人们对这些蛋白质的确切功能知之甚少。我们的研究旨在以面包酵母为模型系统来揭示这类重要蛋白质的功能。由于细胞分裂对所有形式的生命都至关重要，所以高保真的染色体分离机制通常从酵母到人类都是保守的。

Cell division is a remarkable process in which a cell grows and divides to form two identical daughter cells. For this to occur, cell has to accomplish two major tasks a) Duplicate the DNA ( DNA replication) b) Segregate the duplicated DNA molecules equally to the 2 daughter cells( chromosome segregation). Mistakes in either process can lead to cancer and disease in humans. Structural maintenance of chromosome (SMC) proteins is a family of proteins conserved from bacteria to humans and essential for accurate chromosome segregation.. Members of the SMC family play crucial roles in organizing the higher order structure of chromosomes. But the precise function of these proteins are poorly understood. Our research aims to uncover the function of this important class of proteins using the 'baker's yeast' as the model system. Since cell division is vital for all forms of life mechanisms that mediate high-fidelity chromosome segregation are generally conserved from yeast to humans.