QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

First published online October 24, 2008

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in Development Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

MEX-5 takes its PARtners for asymmetry

Anteroposterior polarity in the C. elegans embryo begins with the sperm-induced formation of an anterior cortical actomyosin cap and the asymmetric cortical localisation of the PAR polarity proteins. The subsequent accumulation of the zinc finger protein MEX-5 in the anterior cytoplasm converts this cortical asymmetry into cytoplasmic mRNA and protein asymmetries, but what establishes MEX-5 asymmetry? Tenlen and co-workers now uncover a novel link between the PAR polarity proteins and this asymmetry (see p. 3665). MEX-5 has restricted mobility before fertilisation and in the anterior of one-cell embryos, they report, but in the embryo's posterior its mobility increases as asymmetry develops. They show that a C-terminal domain is required for this increased mobility and identify a crucial residue (Ser458) in the domain that is phosphorylated in vivo. Because the kinase activities of PAR-1 and PAR-4 are required to phosphorylate this residue, the researchers suggest that its phosphorylation might be the elusive link between the PAR proteins and the cytoplasmic asymmetry of MEX-5.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

Related articles in Development:

MEX-5 asymmetry in one-cell C. elegans embryos requires PAR-4- and PAR-1-dependent phosphorylation

Jennifer R. Tenlen, Jeffrey N. Molk, Nitobe London, Barbara D. Page, and James R. Priess
Development 2008 135: 3665-3675. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in Development Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?