Establishment of a cellular axis in fission yeast

Recent studies in fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe reveal how cells establish a cellular axis that specifies domains as the functional 'ends' a nd 'middle' of the cell. During interphase, dynamic microtubules position t he nucleus at the middle of the cell and orientate microtubule 'plus' ends towards the ends of the cell. At the cell ends, the microtubule plus ends m ight establish a zone of polarized cell growth and actin assembly by deposi ting factors such as Teal p. At the cell middle, the nucleus might specify the position of the actin contractile ring and the future cell division sit e by positioning cytokinesis factors such as Mid1p.