Nuclear migration, nucleokinesis and lissencephaly

During the past 20 years, biologists have become used to finding that prote ins first identified in simple, genetically manipulable eukaryotic organism s are conserved in higher eukaryotes. This article draws attention to the s imilarity between NUDF protein, which is required for nuclear migration in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans, and a mammalian homologue, LIS 1, whose malfunction causes lissencephaly, a neuronal migration disease. Th e authors suggest that there might be an underlying similarity of mechanism between nuclear migration in the fungus and neuronal migration in the brai n.