Not all colormaps are created equal. Notice the nonlinear brightness scaling in two very popular ImageJ LUTs! (Glow & GFB)

Hi Robert, I’m assuming this is in response to Manuel’s post. I’m very familiar with your paper, nice work! Again, I disagree that the conclusions in my paper are similar to yours. In fact, here’s an example from your paper where we reach very different conclusions.

I won’t spoil the details of the entire paper here, but we also identified a network of branched actin at the metaphase spindle periphery that modulates spindle size, offering a new explanation for the spindle scaling behavior seen in large acentriolar cells.

Surprisingly, network contraction is not driven by myosin-2. We instead found that contractile stress is generated by filament disassembly within the crosslinked network. We propose that after nebd, formin dilution from the nuclear region triggers filament disassembly and network contraction.

Actin to the rescue! A network of nuclear actin cables captures prophase chromosomes and contracts following nuclear envelope breakdown, gathering chromosomes towards the cell center. We propose that this mechanism of chromosome organization is required to achieve mitotic fidelity.

Even more puzzling, the first phase of mitotic chromosome organization occurs independently of spindle microtubules. So then what cellular component generates the necessary force to organize chromosomes?

It’s therefore puzzling that spindle assembly in the early embryo is highly inefficient, exemplified by comically disordered spindles during early mitosis (shown below).

In the classical view of mitotic cell division, the spindle apparatus maintains principal control of chromosome capture and alignment. Any breakdown in spindle function can result in chromosome mis-segregation, producing daughter cells with abnormal chromosome number.

I’m excited to announce that my paper describing non-canonical mitotic mechanisms in the early mouse embryo is out in @science.org ! (link at end of 🧵)

Dynamic mitochondria labeled with PKmito #FluorescenceFriday

DM1A never disappoints 🤩 #FluorescenceFriday

Analyzing data in Prism

Confocal image or painting?🤔
#FluorescenceFriday