BioMecaNet

BioMecaNet aims to reconstitute crucial aspects of cell division in vitro with purified components and realistically simulate these processes in the computer.

Funding

ERC Synergy Grant 951430

Started

July 2021

Duration

6 years

Groups

Cambridge, Dortmund, Barcelona

BioMecaNet is a collaboration of the computational simulation group of François Nédélec with the experimental working groups of Andrea Musacchio and Thomas Surrey.

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  François Nédélec

  Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge

  Cambridge, United Kingdom

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  Andrea Musacchio

  Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology

  Dortmund, Germany

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  Thomas Surrey

  Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG)

  Barcelona, Spain

1. 19 September 2025 Retreat 2023 ANEUPLOIDY and BioMecaNet joined forces for a joint retreat in Sitges.

   

   ANEUPLOIDY (SyG 855158) & BioMecaNet (SyG 951430) joined forces in 2023 for their retreat in Sitges:

   Great Synergy! A productive joint retreat full of inspiring discussions and new ideas.

2. March 2025 Cytosim simulates chromosome segregation The open-source code now covers the segregation process proposed in BioMecaNet.

   Cytosim was updated to be able to simulate the process of chromosome segregation as proposed in BioMecaNet. The code is publicly available and Open Source since 03.2025.

   Cytosim source code on GitLab

3. September 2024 A model of the plant mitotic spindle The first morphologically accurate spindle model, with ≈2000 microtubules.

   

   As part of BioMecaNet, we have modelled the mitotic spindle found in the roots of Arabidopsis thaliana. In collaboration with Arp Schnittger (Hamburg), we were able to determine experimentally the key parameters of this structure: number of microtubules, growth, microtubule lengths, poleward flux, number of MT at kinetochores, etc. 3D models were so far available only for yeasts (S. pombe and S. cerevisiae). This is the first morphologically accurate spindle, with ≈2000 microtubules.

   Besides its size, this spindle differs from yeast spindles because microtubules turn over, are nucleated via the Augmin pathway, and undergo poleward flux: they are pushed towards the poles by Kinesin 5. Moreover, centrosome/MTOC are absent altogether, and the poles of the spindle self-assemble.

   Read the publication in Developmental Cell

4. 14 June 2022 Bugtiply Day One Our Cytosim-based game met its first 40 players at the Festival of Plants.

   

   After much development efforts by Carlos Lugo and Eashan Saikia, our game Bugtiply, based on Cytosim, met its first 40 players during the Festival of Plants in the Cambridge University Botanic Garden, on June 11 2022.

   Thank you to all members of BioMecaNet for the feedback we received during the retreat!

   Bugtiply, an evolution game

   Bugtiply is an interactive game to explore the mechanism of mitosis – a type of cell division producing two identical daughter cells. Each simulated cell contains two chromosome copies (colored balls) pushed apart by filaments (white), with the help of molecular motors (small red lines). If the two chromosomes are pushed in opposite halves of the cell, the division of the cell in its middle will lead to correct partitioning: each daughter cell will inherit one copy of the chromosome. Incorrect partitioning occurs when one cell inherits two copies, and the other one gets none. In nature, this last configuration would likely lead to the death of both cells.

5. 1 June 2022 Henkin et al. 2022 Crosslinker design determines microtubule network organization by opposing motors.

   

   Crosslinker design determines microtubule network organization by opposing motors

   During cell division, the spindle apparatus segregates duplicated chromosomes for their inheritance by the daughter cells. The spindle is a highly interconnected network of microtubule filaments that are crosslinked by different types of molecular motors. How the different motors cooperate to organize the spindle network is not understood. Here, we show that an asymmetric crosslinker design can confer bifunctionality to a mitotic motor in the presence of other motors. The asymmetric motor supports both extensile and contractile microtubule network behaviors as observed in different parts of the spindle. These findings define new rules controlling the generation of active microtubule networks and allow us to better understand how motors cooperate to organize the correct spindle architecture when a cell divides.

   Gil Henkin, Wei-Xiang Chew, François Nédélec and Thomas Surrey

   Read the full text on bioRxiv

6. 16 May 2022 Conference 2022 Our first in-person meeting with all the groups, in Sant Feliu de Guíxols.

   We are in Sant Feliu de Guíxols for our first in-person meeting with all the groups!

   

7. December 2021 Structure of the Rod–Zw10–Zwilch complex solved Raisch et al. reveal the structure of the RZZ complex at human kinetochores.

   The structure of the Rod–Zw10–Zwilch (RZZ) complex has been solved.

   Raisch et al., Structure of the RZZ complex and molecular basis of Spindly-driven corona assembly at human kinetochores

   Read the preprint on bioRxiv
   Read the article in The EMBO Journal

8. 16 September 2021 Conference 2021 A very interesting scientific exchange, online.

   We are having a very interesting scientific exchange online. Sabina Colombo just explained how she purified γ-TuRC complexes.

9. July 2021 Simulating a filament bundle in 3D A three-dimensional simulation of filaments, crosslinkers and motors.

   

   Watch the movie on YouTube