You have isolated a mutant in which a fraction of the new cells die soon after cell division and a fraction of the living cells have an extra copy of one or more chromosomes

Question

When you grow the cells under conditions in which they transit the cell cycle more slowly, the defect disappears, suggesting that the mitotic spindle and segregation machinery are normal. Propose a basis for the defect.

Answer 1

This mutant may be lacking the checkpoint mechanism that delays the onset of anaphase and chromosome segregation until all chromosomes have attached properly to the mitotic spindle. If cells attempt chromosome segregation before all chromosomes have attached properly, some of the daughter cells will receive too few chromosomes (and thus will probably die) and other cells will receive additional chromosomes. Normally, cells use such a surveillance system to monitor the spindle attachment of each chromosome and engage molecular brakes until all chromosomes have attached properly. The molecular brakes will be dispensable in some dividing cells if all of the chromosomes rapidly become properly attached to the spindle. In other dividing cells, it will take longer for some of the chromosomes to find their appropriate attachments, and thus the molecular brakes will be essential to ensure faithful segregation of the duplicated copies of each chromosome to the two daughter cells. Slowing the cycle will allow more cells to segregate their chromosomes properly even in the absence of this "spindle attachment" checkpoint.