Gurken (large black dots) and dynein (circled) are found in static sponge bodies in the dorso-anterior portion of the fly oocyte.

RABOUILLE/ELSEVIER

A motor in the fly oocyte is turned into a static anchor to hold its polarity-inducing cargo in place, say Renald Delanoue, Bram Herpers, Jan Soetaert, Ilan Davis (University of Oxford, UK), and Catherine Rabouille (University Medical Centre Utrecht, Netherlands). The switch from motor to anchor is thrown by an RNA-binding protein called Squid.

Squid mutants were originally identified by their polarity defects, which stem from mislocalized gurken mRNA. Gurken is normally transported by Dynein to the dorso-anterior portion of the oocyte. There, it is translated into a signal that instructs the overlying cells to become dorsal. Without Squid, gurken is wrongly dispersed throughout the oocyte anterior.

In the new work, Squid was shown to travel with Dynein and gurken in particles toward...

The Rockefeller University Press
2007
The Rockefeller University Press
2007
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