Acentrosomal spindle assembly and maintenance in Caenorhabditis elegans oocytes requires a kinesin-12 nonmotor microtubule interaction domain

Abstract

In Caenorhabditis elegans oocytes, kinesin-12/KLP-18 is the major force-generating motor that promotes spindle bipolarity. A combination of in vitro and in vivo approaches is used to gain insight into the mechanisms by which KLP-18 and its adaptor MESP-1 promote spindle assembly, and it is shown that KLP-18 is also continuously required to maintain bipolarity.