Skip header information|
Wadsworth Center Home - Science in the Pursuit of Health|
Main Body

Wadsworth Center's Featured Image - Archives

June 2002 Featured Image - Click here for a higher resolution image.

Click here for a high resolution image - 1200 x 1120 pixels

This image shows the location of centromere protein E (CENP-E) in human lung cells. CENP-E is required during mitosis, or cell division, for normal attachment of chromosomes to the mitotic spindle. Its exact function is unknown. The protein migrates throughout the phases of cell division, as illustrated in a clockwise fashion beginning at the upper right.

The first cell is in an early phase of mitosis, when chromosomes (blue) are attaching to the mitotic spindle (green). During this stage, CENP-E (magenta) is located in the kinetochore, a specialized region of chromosomes that serves as the attaching site. As mitosis continues, chromosomes travel toward the center of the spindle (bottom image) and begin to align at the equator (left image). When all are attached and aligned, they split apart with duplicated copies moving to opposite spindle poles. At this stage, CENP-E leaves the chromosomes for the spindle equator (upper left). Between cell divisions, the protein is either absent or diffusely located in the cytoplasm.

CREDIT: Dr. Bruce F. McEwen and Rita M. Barnard

This immuno-fluorescent staining image was published in Molecular Biology of the Cell, September 2001, and is on the cover of the American Society for Cell Biology's latest brochure.