Unrestrained ESCRT-III drives micronuclear catastrophe and chromosome fragmentation

The ESCRT-III membrane fission machinery maintains the integrity of the nuclear envelope. Although primary nuclei resealing takes minutes, micronuclear envelope ruptures seem to be irreversible. Instead, micronuclear ruptures result in catastrophic membrane collapse and are associated with chromosome fragmentation and chromothripsis, complex chromosome rearrangements thought to be a major driving force in cancer development. Here we use a...