One of the most extraordinary events in the lifetime of a cell is the coordinated
separation of sister chromatids during cell division. This is truly the essence of the entire
mitotic process and the reason for the most profound morphological changes in
cytoskeleton and nuclear organization that a cell may ever experience. It all occurs
within a very short time window known as “anaphase”, as if the cell had spent the rest of
its existence getting ready for this moment in an ultimate act of survival. And there is a
good reason for this: no space for mistakes. Problems in the distribution of
chromosomes during cell division have been correlated with aneuploidy, a common
feature observed in cancers and several birth defects, and the main cause of
spontaneous abortion in humans. In this paper we critically review the mechanisms of
anaphase chromosome motion that resisted the scrutiny of more than one hundred
years of research as part of a tribute to the pioneering work of Miguel Mota
