This study establishes merotelic kinetochores as a new experimental model for studying the mechanical response of the kinetochore. Laser microsurgery and live-cell imaging in yeast and mammalian cells show a conserved viscoelastic response of the kinetochore.

In industrial practice, stirred tank bioreactors are the most common mammalian cell culture platform. However, research and screening protocols at the laboratory scale (i.e., 5-100 mL) rely primarily on Petri dishes, culture bottles, or Erlenmeyer flasks. There is a clear need for simple-easy to assemble, easy to use, easy to clean-cell culture mini-bioreactors for lab-scale and/or screening applications. Here, we study the mixing performance and culture adequacy of a 30 mL eccentric stirred tank mini-bioreactor. A detailed mixing characterization of the proposed bioreactor is presented. Laser induced fluorescence (LIF) experiments and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) computations are used to identify the operational conditions required for adequate mixing. Mammalian cell culture experiments were conducted with two different cell models. The specific growth rate and the maximum cell density of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell cultures grown in the mini-bioreactor were comparable to those observed for 6-well culture plates, Erlenmeyer flasks, and 1 L fully instrumented bioreactors. Human hematopoietic stem cells were successfully expanded tenfold in suspension conditions using the eccentric mini-bioreactor system. Our results demonstrate good mixing performance and suggest the practicality and adequacy of the proposed mini-bioreactor.

Rod photoreceptors of nocturnal mammals display a striking inversion of nuclear architecture, which has been proposed as an evolutionary adaptation to dark environments. However, the nature of visual benefits and the underlying mechanisms remains unclear. It is widely assumed that improvements in nocturnal vision would depend on maximization of photon capture at the expense of image detail. Here, we show that retinal optical quality improves 2-fold during terminal development, and that this enhancement is caused by nuclear inversion. We further demonstrate that improved retinal contrast transmission, rather than photon-budget or resolution, enhances scotopic contrast sensitivity by 18–27%, and improves motion detection capabilities up to 10-fold in dim environments. Our findings therefore add functional significance to a prominent exception of nuclear organization and establish retinal contrast transmission as a decisive determinant of mammalian visual perception.

20Rod photoreceptors of nocturnal mammals display a striking inversion of nuclear architecture, which has been proposed as an evolutionary adaptation to dark environments. However, the nature of visual benefits and underlying mechanisms remains unclear. It is widely assumed that improvements in nocturnal vision would depend on maximization of photon capture, at the expense of image detail. Here we show that retinal optical quality improves 2-fold during 25 terminal development, which, confirmed by a mouse model, happens due to nuclear inversion.We further reveal that improved retinal contrast-transmission, rather than photon-budget or resolution, leads to enhanced contrast sensitivity under low light condition. Our findings therefore add functional significance to a prominent exception of nuclear organization and establish retinal contrast-transmission as a decisive determinant of mammalian visual 30 perception.