title: NEGotiating Cell Identity through Regulated Cytoplasmic Polyadenylation.
abstract: In this issue of Developmental Cell, Elewa et al. (2015) show that combinatorial action of RNA binding proteins modulates poly(A) tail length of maternal mRNAs, leading to asymmetric expression of a cell fate determinant in early C. elegans embryos. Genome-wide profiling suggests this mechanism may be widely used to establish cell identities.
authors.affiliation: Department of MCD Biology and Neuroscience Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
authors.forename: Pradeep M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Joshi
authors.affiliation: Department of MCD Biology and Neuroscience Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA; School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand. Electronic address: joel.rothman@lifesci.ucsb.edu.
authors.forename: Joel H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Rothman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000378:metabolism*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism*; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D026723:Polyadenylation / Q000502:physiology*; D018510:RNA, Helminth / Q000378:metabolism*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D018510:RNA, Helminth; D012333:RNA, Messenger