Kinetochores and disease: keeping microtubule dynamics in check!

The essential role of microtubules in cell division has long been known. Yet the mechanism by which microtubule attachment to chromosomes at kinetochores is regulated has only been recently revealed. Here, we review the role of kinetochore-microtubule (kMT) attachment dynamics in the cell cycle as well as emerging evidence linking deregulation of kMT attachments to diseases where chromosome mis-segregation and aneuploidy play a central role. Evidence indicates that the dynamic behavior of kMTs must fall within narrow permissible boundaries, which simultaneously allow a level of stability sufficient to establish and maintain chromosome-microtubule attachments and a degree of instability that permits error correction required for accurate chromosome segregation.