The centromere is a specialized region of eukaryotic chromosomes that is essential for faithful chromosome segregation during mitosis and meiosis. A kinetochore is assembled at the centromere of each chromatid of a replicated chromosome and forms a dynamic interface with microtubules of the mitotic spindle. In recent years, many kinetochore proteins have been identified in vertebrate cells. After identification of kinetochore components, the process of kinetochore assembly has been studied. Herein, recent advances in our understanding of the kinetochore and spindle checkpoint in vertebrate cells are reviewed. I also review our recent contributions to this field and discuss their implications using chicken DT40 system.