Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Genes & Development, 13(23), p. 1475-1480, 2009
DOI: 10.1101/gad.1821509
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Bicaudal-D (Bic-D) and Egalitarian (Egl) are required for the dynein-dependent localization of many mRNAs in Drosophila, but the mRNAs show no obvious sequence similarities, and the RNA-binding proteins that recognize them and link them to dynein are not known. In this issue of Genes & Development, Dienstbier and colleagues (pp. 1546–1558) present evidence that the elusive RNA-binding protein is Egl itself. As well as linking mRNA to dynein, they show that Egl also activates dynein motility by binding Bic-D and the dynein light chain.