Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been widely used as a model system for the study of basic biological processes which are usually evolutionarily conserved from yeasts to multicellular eukaryotes. These studies are very important because they shed light on mechanisms that are altered in human diseases and help the development of new biomarkers and therapies. The mitotic spindle is a conserved apparatus that governs chromosome segregation during mitosis. Given its crucial role for genome stability and, therefore, for cell viability, its structure and function are strictly regulated. Recent findings reveal new levels of regulation in mitotic spindle dynamics and link spindle pole diversification with cell fate determination, health, disease and aging.
Keywords: Bik1; Mih1; Mitosis; Mitotic spindle; Swe1.