Stimulating Embryo Polarization with Mitochondrial Peroxide.

Abstract

Centrosomes break symmetry in the C.elegans one-cell embryo, triggering its anterior-posterior polarization and initiating segregation of somatic and germline cell lineages. In this issue of Developmental Cell, De Henau etal. show that mitochondria also contribute to symmetry breaking by producing hydrogen peroxide at the egg's future posterior pole.