Premium
RNA Transport in the Cytoplasm: How to Get There from Here
Author(s) -
Mowry Kimberly
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.24.1_supplement.68.3
Subject(s) - cytoplasm , microbiology and biotechnology , rna , messenger rna , biology , gene expression , nucleus , gene , molecular motor , genetics
RNA localization is a widely conserved mechanism for generating polarized gene expression. We have studied the localization of mRNA in the frog oocyte as a model to gain mechanistic insight into how RNA molecules can be targeted to specific regions of the cell cytoplasm to generate spatially restricted gene expression. A major focus of our studies is Vg1 mRNA, which is transported to the vegetal hemisphere cytoplasm and encodes a secreted grown factor whose restricted expression is required for proper embryonic patterning. Our recent studies have focused on tracing the molecular pathway for cytoplasmic RNA localization, from the initiating events in the nucleus to motor‐driven RNP transport in the cytoplasm. Our results indicate that specific molecular motors transport RNP cargoes in discrete regions of the oocyte cytoplasm.