“…Ironically, the simplest explanation is that mitosis is both destructive and stressful for the dividing cell, and is therefore a process best finished quickly. During mitosis, among other things, the nuclear envelope is torn apart (Gerace et al, 1978), the Golgi and ER membrane systems undergo dramatic reorganization (Hetzer, 2010;Robbins and Gonatas, 1964), vesicle trafficking ceases (Sager et al, 1984), chromosomes condense and transcription is disabled (Taylor, 1960;Prescott and Bender, 1962), translation is slowed (Prescott and Bender, 1962;Bonneau and Sonenberg, 1987), and both the actin and microtubule cytoskeletons are reshaped to facilitate cell rounding and assembly of the bipolar mitotic spindle (Saxton et al, 1984;Kunda and Baum, 2009). Such dramatic perturbations to the normal cellular architecture during mitosis cannot be tolerated indefinitely, and we are just beginning to understand the consequences of extending such an abnormal state: the infrastructure of mitotic chromosomes, slowly but surely, begins to break down during prolonged mitosis, ultimately giving rise to DNA breaks.…”