Book Recommendation
rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org
Introduction
Cite this article:
Bornens M, Go¨nczy P. 2014
Centrosomes back in the limelight.
Phil.
Trans. R. Soc. B
369
: 20130452.
One contribution of 18 to a Theme Issue
‘The centrosome renaissance’.
Subject Areas:
cellular biology
Keywords:
centrosome, centriole, PCM, collective coverage
Authors for correspondence:
Michel Bornens
e-mail:
Pierre Go¨nczy
e-mail:
Centrosomes back in the limelight
Michel Bornens
1
and Pierre Go¨nczy
2
1
UMR 144 CNRS-Institut CURIE, 26 rue d’Ulm 75 248, PARIS Cedex 05, France
2
Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (ISREC), School of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology (EPFL) Lausanne, Switzerland
1. The life cycle of the centrosome field
Centrosomes and centrioles were ‘born’ towards the end of the nineteenth
century when they were first spotted and studied by astute cell and develop-
mental biologists, including Edouard Van Beneden, as well as Theodor
Boveri and Walther Fleming, who coined the terms ‘centrosome’ and ‘centriole’,
respectively, that still designate these structures today. There was much initial
excitement about centrosomes and centrioles, fuelled notably by their suggest-
ive position in the cell centre, by their role during fertilization and by seminal
experiments that lead to the formulation of the chromosomal theory of heredity.
Daring postulates were put forth about their importance as polar corpuscle and
organizers of cell division, as coordinators of karyokinesis and cytokinesis, or
as drivers of malignant transformation. After this flamboyant debut, centro-
somes and centrioles gradually left centre stage as the twentieth century
unfolded. The advent of electron-microscopy in the 1950s revived interest in
these structures, in particular when it became apparent that centrioles have a
remarkable ninefold radial symmetric arrangement of microtubules that is
also imparted onto cilia and flagella. However, detailed understanding of the
mechanisms underlying the assembly and function of centrosomes and
centrioles would have to wait several more decades.
To appreciate the uncertain state of affairs in the 1970s, one can consider the
thoughtful chapter of Chandler Fulton [1, p. 170], who started his contribution
with these words: ‘If one wandered about asking biologists to complete the sen-
tence “Centrioles are
. . .
” the answers might well range from “I don’t know” to
“Centrioles are self-replicating organelles responsible for the synthesis and
assembly of microtubules”. Although it is conceivable that the later reply contains
a little truth, the “I don’t know” is more likely to be the reply of an expert’.
How did we go from such uncertainty to the renaissance that this Theme Issue
is heralding? The field has indeed experienced a rebirth as evidenced by compar-
ing the few dozen articles on the centrosome published each year in the early 1980s
with the over 400 contributions in the year 2013, or by considering the growing
number of conferences in the field. Many novel avenues of research have been
opened recently: the centrosome is back in the thinking of many cell and develop-
mental biologists after a long eclipse during which even the term centrosome was
neglected to the benefit of the acronym MTOC: Microtubule Organizing Centre.
2. A timely collective coverage
The centrosome thus represents an extremely timely topic for a collective coverage.
After
The centrosome
in 1992 [2],
The centrosome in cell replication and early develop-
ment
in 2000 [3] and
Centrosomes in development and disease
in 2004 [4], it seemed
appropriate to assemble a novel collection of papers on the centrosome. This is
why, in spite of the many excellent reviews published in recent years, we have
accepted the invitation from the Commissioning Editor of the journal
Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society B
to assemble this Theme Issue entitled
‘The centrosome renaissance’.
Because such Theme Issues are restricted to a limited number of contri-
butions, a focus needed to be given. We chose this focus to be the centrosome
in animal cells, while including some information from other systems, including
budding yeast and unicellular organisms. Regrettably, however, other important
&
2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.
on October 7, 2014
rstb.royalsocietypublish ng.org
Downloaded from
This article is published with kind
permission of Royal Society Publishing,
London, UK
