Question

The drug Taxol, or Paclitaxel, is used to treat patients with a variety of cancers, including breast, lung and ovarian cancers. The drug works by stabilizing microtubules, and preventing their disassembly. The goal of the drug is to prevent dividing cells from being able to complete mitosis. As a result, cancerous cells can no longer divide. In a cell treated with Taxol, at what stage of mitosis will the cells arrest?

a) Prior to metaphase
b) Anaphase
c) Telophase
d) Cytokinesis

Answer 1

Cells treated with Taxol will arrest in metaphase of mitosis because the drug prevents the microtubules from depolymerizing, which is essential for chromosome separation during anaphase.

Step-by-step explanation:

The chemotherapy drug Taxol or Paclitaxel, functions by stabilizing microtubules and preventing their disassembly during cell division. Specifically, Taxol disrupts the equilibrium between free tubulin and microtubules by favoring the assembly and forming abnormal bundles.

This action blocks the mitotic anaphase and telophase stages, because depolymerization of microtubules is required for the chromosomes to be pulled apart. Thus, cells treated with Taxol would arrest in metaphase of mitosis, where chromosomes are lined up at the metaphase plate, but cannot proceed to anaphase because the microtubules cannot shorten to pull the chromatids apart.