Golgi division and membrane traffic.

The Golgi complex has a distinctive morphology in mammalian cells, comprising a ribbon of closely apposed, stacked cisternae located adjacent to the nucleus and often the centrioles. Observations since the turn of the century have revealed dramatic changes in Golgi structure as cells undergo mitosis, and more recent microscopic analyses have confirmed that the Golgi ribbon in converted to clusters of vesicles and tubules dispersed throughout the mitotic cell. We have long been interested in this fragmentation since it offers a unique opportunity to study organelle division at the molecular level. Here, we describe the way in which our understanding has developed through another dramatic change to membrane function in mitosis, namely the inhibition of membrane traffic.