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Organization of microtubule plus-end dynamics by phase separation in mitosis
Fengrui Yang1,2,3,† , Mingrui Ding1,† , Xiaoyu Song1,2,3,† , Fang Chen4 , Tongtong Yang1,2 , Chunyue Wang1,2 , Chengcheng Hu1,2 , Qing Hu1,2 , Yihan Yao1 , Shihao Du1,2 , Phil Y. Yao2,3 , Peng Xia1,2 , Gregory Adams Jr2,3 , Chuanhai Fu1,2,3 , Shengqi Xiang1 , Dan Liu1 , Zhikai Wang1,2,3,* , Kai Yuan4,* , Xing Liu1,2,*
1MOE Key Laboratory for Membraneless Organelles & Cellular Dynamics, Hefei National Research Center for Cross-disciplinary Sciences, Center for Advanced Interdisciplinary Science and Biomedicine of IHM, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China
2Anhui Key Laboratory for Cellular Dynamics and Chemical Biology, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China
3Keck Center for Organoids Plasticity, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30310, USA
4Hunan Key Laboratory of Molecular Precision Medicine, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China
These authors contributed equally to this work
*Correspondence to:Xing Liu , Email:xing1017@ustc.edu.cn Zhikai Wang , Email:wangzk@ustc.edu.cn Kai Yuan , Email:yuankai@csu.edu.cn
J Mol Cell Biol, Volume 16, Issue 2, February 2024, mjae006,  https://doi.org/10.1093/jmcb/mjae006
Keyword: phase separation, mitosis, microtubule dynamics, EB1, acetylation

In eukaryotes, microtubule polymers are essential for cellular plasticity and fate decisions. End-binding (EB) proteins serve as scaffolds for orchestrating microtubule polymer dynamics and are essential for cellular dynamics and chromosome segregation in mitosis. Here, we show that EB1 forms molecular condensates with TIP150 and MCAK through liquid–liquid phase separation to compartmentalize the kinetochore–microtubule plus-end machinery, ensuring accurate kinetochore–microtubule interactions during chromosome segregation in mitosis. Perturbation of EB1–TIP150 polymer formation by a competing peptide prevents phase separation of the EB1-mediated complex and chromosome alignment at the metaphase equator in both cultured cells and Drosophila embryos. Lys220 of EB1 is dynamically acetylated by p300/CBP-associated factor in early mitosis, and persistent acetylation at Lys220 attenuates phase separation of the EB1-mediated complex, dissolves droplets in vitro, and harnesses accurate chromosome segregation. Our data suggest a novel framework for understanding the organization and regulation of eukaryotic spindle for accurate chromosome segregation in mitosis.