Microtubule flux: drivers wanted

While the metaphase spindle maintains a constant shape and size during cell division, its major component microtubules are continuously being polymerized, depolymerized and transported towards the two spindle poles in a process called microtubule poleward flux. This process has been observed in all metazoan cells. Recent studies have indicated that Kinesin-5s, which can drive the relative sliding of microtubules, and kinesin-13s, which regulate microtubule polymerization, are directly involved in microtubule poleward flux. The availability of molecular and chemical tools to perturb protein functions together with improvements in imaging and analytical methods have allowed the examination of these two kinesins’ roles in poleward flux at high temporal and spatial resolution. These advances have shed some light on the molecular mechanisms that drive microtubule poleward flux.