In large cells, cytoplasmic streaming evenly disperses some cellular components and may help to concentrate others at specific locations. In Drosophila oocytes, slow streaming occurs during the localisation of pattern formation determinants; fast streaming cuts in later to evenly mix the yolk. On p. 3743,Serbus and colleagues report that while all cytoplasmic streaming in Drosophila oocytes requires the plus-end-directed microtubule motor kinesin-1, dynein (a minus-end-directed motor) and the actin cytoskeleton impede kinesin's fast-streaming activity. The researchers use time-lapse microscopy, suppression of dynein activity, and analysis of kinesin heavy chain mutations to propose a model in which a novel competition between dynein and kinesin initially prevents the parallel ordering of microtubules, allowing only short-range currents. The release of a dynein inhibitor subsequently allows the establishment of a self-amplifying loop of plus-end-directed organelle motion and parallel microtubule orientation, which drives fast streaming.
Motor driven cytoplasmic streaming
Motor driven cytoplasmic streaming. Development 15 August 2005; 132 (16): e1604. 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.