Progress in the structural and functional characterization of kinetochores.

•Kinetochores, large macromolecular assemblies, link chromosome to spindle microtubules.•Kinetochores are crucially required for accurate chromosome segregation in mitosis.•Biochemical reconstitution and structural analysis are beginning to uncover kinetochore organization.•Recent studies identify a common modular structure in kinetochores of distant eukaryotes.