Organelle Inheritance-Cell Cycle Dependent Dynamics of Organelles in Mammalian Cells.

At the onset of mitosis, each organelle in a mammalian cell must be inherited accurately by two daughter cells. Recent advances in GFP visualization techniques and in genetic approaches have made it possible to understand the dynamic behavior of organelle during their inheritance and to identify the intracellular machinery required for accurate inheritance. Extensive studies have revealed that the inheritance strategies used by each organelle are not stochastic and passive but are rather controlled by the molecules, which are needed for membrane fusion/vesiculation in intracellular membrane traffics and for organelle architecture. Here we review current knowledge of organelle inheritance briefly and describe our recent findings, which have been obtained using our novel "semi-intact cell systems", with regard to the inheritance mechanisms of Golgi apparatus and endoplasmic reticulum in mammalian cells.