TY - JOUR PB - FRONTIERS MEDIA SA Y1 - 2020/08/06/ VL - 8 A1 - Taubenberger, A A1 - Baum, B A1 - Matthews, HK N2 - When animal cells enter mitosis, they round up to become spherical. This shape change is accompanied by changes in mechanical properties. Multiple studies using different measurement methods have revealed that cell surface tension, intracellular pressure and cortical stiffness increase upon entry into mitosis. These cell-scale, biophysical changes are driven by alterations in the composition and architecture of the contractile acto-myosin cortex together with osmotic swelling and enable a mitotic cell to exert force against the environment. When the ability of cells to round is limited, for example by physical confinement, cells suffer severe defects in spindle assembly and cell division. The requirement to push against the environment to create space for spindle formation is especially important for cells dividing in tissues. Here we summarize the evidence and the tools used to show that cells exert rounding forces in mitosis in vitro and in vivo, review the molecular basis for this force generation and discuss its function for ensuring successful cell division in single cells and for cells dividing in normal or diseased tissues. AV - public EP - 16 JF - Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology N1 - Copyright © 2020 Taubenberger, Baum and Matthews. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. ID - discovery10119815 TI - The Mechanics of Mitotic Cell Rounding KW - mitosis KW - mitotic rounding KW - myosin KW - ezrin KW - Ect2 KW - actin cortex KW - osmotic pressure KW - cell mechanics UR - https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2020.00687 ER -