Nonthermal Fluctuations of the Mitotic Spindle

Abstract

We present direct measurements of fluctuations in the nucleus of yeast cells. While prior work has shown these fluctuations to be active and non-thermal in character, their origin and time dependence are not understood. We show that the nuclear fluctuations we observe are quantitatively consistent with uncorrelated, active force fluctuations driving a nuclear medium that is dominated by an uncondensed DNA solution, for which we perform rheological measurements on an {\it in vitro} model system under similar conditions to what is expected in the nucleus.