Cytoplasmic flow and the establishment of polarity in C. elegans 1-cell embryos.
Early Caenorhabditis elegans embryos provide an excellent model for the study of developmental processes. Development can be studied by direct observation under the light microscope and can be perturbed using laser manipulations, drug inhibitor treatments, and genetic mutants. The first division of the C. elegans embryo is asymmetric, generating two daughter cells unequal in size and developmental fate. These distinct fates are generated by the partitioning of cytoplasmic determinants during the first mitotic cell cycle. Partitioning of these determinants is thought to be driven by cytoplasmic flow. Recent studies in C. elegans in the past year have identified a number of components necessary for this flow, giving us a clearer picture of the molecular mechanisms underlying developmental asymmetry.
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Laboratory of Biochemistry and Genetics, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-0840, USA. andyg@intra.niddk.nih.gov
D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology*; D016764:Cell Polarity / Q000502:physiology; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000502:physiology; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism
D014157:Transcription Factors