ijms-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

Mechanistic Studies of Mitosis

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Biochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 July 2025) | Viewed by 1827

Special Issue Editor


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biology, University of Crete, Vassilika Vouton, 70013 Heraklion, Greece
Interests: mitosis; cancer; cell biology; spindle checkpoint; abscission; abscission checkpoint; cytokinesis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

During mitotic cell division, replicated chromosomes are segregated faithfully into two daughter cells. There are monitoring mechanisms called checkpoints which act during mitosis to ensure proper chromosome attachment and correct chromosome segregation. One checkpoint that functions during early mitosis is called the spindle checkpoint and delays anaphase onset until all chromosomes are properly attached to spindle microtubules emanating from opposite spindle poles. The recruitment of spindle checkpoint proteins to unattached kinetochores is very important for the activation of the spindle checkpoint. Malfunction of the spindle checkpoint can lead to aneuploidy and cancer.

After chromosomes are segregated normally during anaphase, cytokinesis follows. The final step of cytokinesis, in which the narrow cytoplasmic canal that connects the daughter cells is cut, is called abscission. The abscission checkpoint monitors the faithful segregation of DNA and makes sure that there is no trapped chromatin inside the cytoplasmic canal. The abscission checkpoint delays abscission in the presence of chromatin bridges to prevent chromatin breakage or furrow regression and tetraploidization. In mammalian cells, the abscission checkpoint is dependent on the Aurora B kinase and is a matter of active investigation.

In this Special Issue called “Mechanistic Studies of Mitosis”, we focus on the latest research developments in mitosis and mitotic checkpoints.

Dr. Eleni Petsalaki
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • mitosis
  • cancer
  • cell biology
  • spindle checkpoint
  • abscission
  • abscission checkpoint
  • cytokinesis

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Review

12 pages, 648 KB  
Review
Tick-Tock: Cancer Cell Division Cycle Clocks Strike Midnight
by Scott C. Schuyler, Hsin-Yu Chen, Tran Thi Bao Nguyen, Cheng-Ye Weng, Katelyn Huang and Yun-Chen Renee Lin
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2025, 26(13), 6274; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26136274 - 29 Jun 2025
Viewed by 1166
Abstract
Eukaryotic cells double their mass and divide at the same rate, allowing cells to maintain a uniform cell size over many cell divisions. We hypothesize that aneuploid cancer cells are more sensitive to forced overgrowth, more than doubling their mass during a single [...] Read more.
Eukaryotic cells double their mass and divide at the same rate, allowing cells to maintain a uniform cell size over many cell divisions. We hypothesize that aneuploid cancer cells are more sensitive to forced overgrowth, more than doubling their mass during a single longer-duration cell division cycle, relative to healthy diploid cells. This hypothesis stems from the observation that cancer cells are under proteotoxic stress, during which heat-shock proteins become rate-limiting and the unfolded-protein response network has a growth-suppressive phenotype. Forced overgrowth will lead to the production of more individual proteins per cell division cycle and increase the duration of time during which any mis-folded or aggregated proteins might disrupt the function of properly folded proteins. To induce these potential forced overgrowth effects, we suggest targeting the cell division cycle regulatory enzyme, the anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C), to suppress—but not inhibit—its activity. We conclude by proposing experiments to test this hypothesis in which an APC/C inhibitor, such as a low level of proTAME, is combined with the clinically approved heat-shock protein 90 (HSP90)-inhibitor pimitespib (TAS-116) or the pre-clinical molecule tanespimycin, which, to the best of our knowledge, are combinations that have not been investigated before. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanistic Studies of Mitosis)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop