Spindle apparatus

Micrograph showing condensed chromosomes in blue, kinetochores in pink, and microtubules in green during metaphase of mitosis

In cell biology, the spindle apparatus is the cytoskeletal structure of eukaryotic cells that forms during cell division to separate sister chromatids between daughter cells. It is referred to as the mitotic spindle during mitosis, a process that produces genetically identical daughter cells, or the meiotic spindle during meiosis, a process that produces gametes with half the number of chromosomes of the parent cell.

Besides chromosomes, the spindle apparatus is composed of hundreds of proteins.^[1]^[2] Microtubules comprise the most abundant components of the machinery.

^ C. E. Walczak; R. Heald (2008). "Mechanisms of Mitotic Spindle Assembly and Function". International Review of Cytology. 265: 111–158. doi:10.1016/s0074-7696(07)65003-7. ISBN 9780123743329. PMID 18275887.
^ Helmke KJ, Heald R, Wilbur JD (2013). "Interplay between spindle architecture and function" (PDF). Int. Rev. Cell Mol. Biol. International Review of Cell and Molecular Biology. 306: 83–125. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-407694-5.00003-1. ISBN 9780124076945. PMID 24016524. S2CID 8145444.

[1] C. E. Walczak; R. Heald (2008). "Mechanisms of Mitotic Spindle Assembly and Function". International Review of Cytology. 265: 111–158. doi:10.1016/s0074-7696(07)65003-7. ISBN 9780123743329. PMID 18275887.

[2] Helmke KJ, Heald R, Wilbur JD (2013). "Interplay between spindle architecture and function" (PDF). Int. Rev. Cell Mol. Biol. International Review of Cell and Molecular Biology. 306: 83–125. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-407694-5.00003-1. ISBN 9780124076945. PMID 24016524. S2CID 8145444.

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