Par-1, a Ser/Thr kinase, is required for cell polarisation in many organisms. In Drosophila oogenesis, for example, Par-1 is involved in several polarisation events, including the localisation of the anterior determinant bicoid mRNA. Riechmann and Ephrussi now report that Par-1 regulates the localisation of bicoid mRNA by phosphorylating Exuperantia (Exu; see p. 5897). They identify Exu, a mediator of bicoid mRNA localisation, as a phosphorylation target of Par-1 in a genome-wide, gel-based screen and describe two motifs in Exu that are phosphorylated by Par-1. Mutation of these motifs abolishes bicoid mRNA localisation in mid-oogenesis, but a proportion of the oocytes subsequently recover from these bicoid mRNA localisation defects, indicating that the requirement for Exu phosphorylation becomes less stringent as oogenesis proceeds. Finally, the researchers propose a multi-step model for bicoid mRNA localisation in which redundant mechanisms ensure its anterior accumulation.
Locating bicoid: step by step
Locating bicoid: step by step. Development 1 December 2004; 131 (23): e2303. doi:
Download citation file:
Advertisement
Cited by
Call for papers: Uncovering Developmental Diversity
Development invites you to submit your latest research to our upcoming special issue: Uncovering Developmental Diversity. This issue will be coordinated by our academic Editor Cassandra Extavour (Harvard University, USA) alongside two Guest Editors: Liam Dolan (Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology, Austria) and Karen Sears (University of California Los Angeles, USA).
Choose Development in 2024
In this Editorial, Development Editor-in-Chief James Briscoe and Executive Editor Katherine Brown explain how you support your community by publishing in Development and how the journal champions serious science, community connections and progressive publishing.
Journal Meeting: From Stem Cells to Human Development
Register now for the 2024 Development Journal Meeting From Stem Cells to Human Development. Early-bird registration deadline: 3 May. Abstract submission deadline: 21 June.
Pluripotency of a founding field: rebranding developmental biology
This collaborative Perspective, the result of a workshop held in 2023, proposes a set of community actions to increase the visibility of the developmental biology field. The authors make recommendations for new funding streams, frameworks for collaborations and mechanisms by which members of the community can promote themselves and their research.
Read & Publish Open Access publishing: what authors say
We have had great feedback from authors who have benefitted from our Read & Publish agreement with their institution and have been able to publish Open Access with us without paying an APC. Read what they had to say.