Despite decades of molecular analysis of the centrosome, an important microtubule-organizing center (MTOC) of animal cells, the molecular basis of microtubule organization remains obscure. A major challenge is the sheer complexity of the interplay of the hundreds of proteins that constitute the centrosome. However, this complexity owes not only to the centrosome’s role as a MTOC but also to the requirements of its duplication cycle and to various other functions such as the formation of cilia, the integration of various signaling pathways, and the organization of actin filaments. Thus, rather than using the parts lists to reconstruct the centrosome, we propose to identify the subset of proteins minimally needed to assemble a MTOC and to study this process at non-centrosomal sites.

尽管对中心体（动物细胞的重要微管组织中心（MTOC））进行了数十年的分子分析，但微管组织的分子基础仍然不清楚。一个主要的挑战是构成中心体的数百种蛋白质相互作用的复杂性。但是，这种复杂性不仅归因于中心体作为MTOC的作用，还归因于其复制周期的要求以及其他各种功能，例如纤毛的形成，各种信号传导途径的整合以及肌动蛋白丝的组织。因此，我们建议不要使用组装零件清单来重建中心体，而是要确定组装MTOC所需的最低蛋白质子集，并在非中心体位点研究此过程。