A diffusion trap: Sticky spots on cell membranes hold onto the master regulator of cell polarity
Tuesday, January 22, 2013 - 11:02
in Biology & Nature
Over the past several years, Rong Li, Ph.D., at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research has been making crucial discoveries about the development of cell polarity—the process by which one side of a cell becomes different from the other side. Such polarity is critical for the functioning of the vast majority of cells. The outside surface of skin cells is very different from the surface inside the body, for example, while nerve cells have delicately branching dendrites on one end and axons on the other. Li's lab studies yeast cells, which form a unique polarized site, the location of the future bud.