ArticleNature2016
Ki-67 acts as a biological surfactant to disperse mitotic chromosomes.
Article in Nature, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 309 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
309 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Utility of KI-67 as a prognostic biomarker in pulmonary neuroendocrine neoplasms: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open · 2022Pooled it
- Differential roles for the spindle assembly checkpoint in error surveillance and mitotic timing.The EMBO journal · 2026Article
- Power-law scaling of mitotic spindles with genome sizes across eukaryotes is driven by chromosome crowding.Nature cell biology · 2026Article
- Chromosome crowding shapes spindle geometry.Nature cell biology · 2026Article
- Type 1 interferon perturbates clonal competition by reshaping human blood development.Nature genetics · 2026Article
- Ki-67 regulates heterochromatin organization in neurons and forms condensates with heterochromatic components.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Elucidating structure-function relationships in the mammalian nucleolus.Nature reviews. Molecular cell biology · 2026Review
- PPGLomics: an interactive platform for pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma transcriptomics.Endocrine-related cancer · 2026Article
- Bovine Colostrum-Derived Extracellular Vesicles Impair Cancer Cell Proliferation Through Transcriptional Dysregulation.Journal of extracellular vesicles · 2026Article
- Stress- and mitosis-dependent phosphorylation of NIFK on Ser247.Journal of cell science · 2026Article
- Affino-Proteomic Analysis of Bumped Kinase Inhibitor BKI-1708 inMicroorganisms · 2026Article
- Decoding Cervical Neuroendocrine Carcinoma: A Practical Review of Diagnostic Pitfalls, Differential Diagnosis and Molecular Insights.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Ki-67 shapes the nucleolus by anchoring chromatin via its amphiphilic properties.The EMBO journal · 2026Article
- Article
- sc-rDSeq: a robust and cost-effective full-length total RNA sequencing method for single cells reveals multilayered heterogeneity in drug-resistant lung cancer cells.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- Spindle pole proteins confine chromosomes to ensure their expulsion during female meiosis.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Differences of immunohistochemical profiling of MOC-31, caveolin-1, connexin-43, Ki-67 in ameloblastic fibroma, ameloblastic fibrodentinoma, ameloblastic fibro-odontoma, and odontomas.World journal of experimental medicine · 2026Article
- RNA-seq at different stages of human pancreatic β cell differentiation reveals proliferation dynamics and SMAD9 in directing β cell fate.Cell death & disease · 2026Article
- Biological Effects of an Isoquercetin-Containing Formulation in Preclinical Models of Skin Aging.Cureus · 2026Article
- Genomic insights into chromosomal fusion and its evolutionary implications for zokors.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
249 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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9 authors.
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Abstract
Eukaryotic genomes are partitioned into chromosomes that form compact and spatially well-separated mechanical bodies during mitosis. This enables chromosomes to move independently of each other for segregation of precisely one copy of the genome to each of the nascent daughter cells. Despite insights into the spatial organization of mitotic chromosomes and the discovery of proteins at the chromosome surface, the molecular and biophysical bases of mitotic chromosome structural individuality have remained unclear. Here we report that the proliferation marker protein Ki-67 (encoded by the MKI67 gene), a component of the mitotic chromosome periphery, prevents chromosomes from collapsing into a single chromatin mass after nuclear envelope disassembly, thus enabling independent chromosome motility and efficient interactions with the mitotic spindle. The chromosome separation function of human Ki-67 is not confined within a specific protein domain, but correlates with size and net charge of truncation mutants that apparently lack secondary structure. This suggests that Ki-67 forms a steric and electrostatic charge barrier, similar to surface-active agents (surfactants) that disperse particles or phase-separated liquid droplets in solvents. Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy showed a high surface density of Ki-67 and dual-colour labelling of both protein termini revealed an extended molecular conformation, indicating brush-like arrangements that are characteristic of polymeric surfactants. Our study thus elucidates a biomechanical role of the mitotic chromosome periphery in mammalian cells and suggests that natural proteins can function as surfactants in intracellular compartmentalization.
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