Length-limitation of astral microtubules orients cell divisions in intestinal crypts

Planar spindle orientation is critical for epithelial tissue organization, and generally instructed from the long cell shape axis or cortical polarity domains. We introduced mouse intestinal organoid crypts to study spindle orientation in a monolayered mammalian epithelium. Although spindles were planar in this tissue, mitotic cells remained elongated along the apico-basal axis and polarity complexes were segregated to basal poles, so that spindles oriented in an unconventional manner, orthogonal to both polarity and geometric cues. Using high-resolution 3D imaging, simulations, cell shape and cytoskeleton manipulations, we show that planar divisions resulted from a length-limitation in mitotic-phase astral microtubules which precludes them from interacting with basal polarity, and oriented spindles from the local geometry of apical domains. Accordingly, lengthening microtubules affected spindle planarity, cell positioning and crypt arrangement. We conclude that microtubule length regulation may serve as a key mechanism for spindles to sense local cell shapes and tissue forces to preserve mammalian epithelial architecture.