Getting ahead by staying still

Migrating cells send the nucleus backward rather than the microtubule-organizing center (MTOC) forward, say Edgar Gomes, Shantanu Jani, and Gregg Gundersen (Columbia University, New York, NY).As cells begin to migrate, they spin their internal contents around to orient in the direction of overall cell movement. Movement of a MTOC was thought to lead the way in this process. Consistent with this idea, dynein tugged on MTOCs in other settings, and was concentrated at the leading edge of moving cells. The MTOC moving toward the front of a migrating cell “had been our model forever,” says Gundersen.

The trouble is, he says, “people weren't looking early enough.” They had seen the final result but not the movement itself. Now, this team gets reorientation going with LPA before initiating migration with...