Microtubules

Abstract

The drug colchicine, a gift from the ancients to students of cell division and to gout sufferers, has lately acquired new distinction. When cells divide, they develop a special apparatus for distributing the chromosome complements equally to the two daughters. The framework of this apparatus is the mitotic spindle, whose fibers are composed of microtubules. Microtubules, generally identical in appearance to spindle fibers, are also observable in most if not all nondividing cells. Colchicine has a special affinity for microtubules and has provided new insight into their distribution, structure and functions.Microtubules are the most prominent of several types of . . .