Molecular motors and developmental asymmetry

The generation of distinct cell fates can require movement of specific molecules or organelles to particular locations within the cell. These subcellular movements are often the jobs of motor proteins. Seemingly disparate developmental processes--determination of right and left in vertebrates, setting up the axes of polarity in insect embryos, mating-type switching in yeast, and coordinated organelle movements in Drosophila--converge in their dependence on motor proteins. The extent of possible regulatory complexity is only beginning to emerge.