Conserved signals and machinery for RNA transport in Drosophila oogenesis and embryogenesis

Localization of cytoplasmic messenger RNA transcripts is widely used to tar get proteins within cells. For many transcripts, localization depends on ci s-acting elements within the transcripts and on microtubule-based motors; h owever, little is known about other components of the transport machinery o r how these components recognize specific RNA cargoes. Here, we show that i n Drosophila the same machinery and RNA signals drive specific accumulation of maternal RNAs in the early oocyte and apical transcript localization in blastoderm embryos. We demonstrate in vivo that Egalitarian (Egl) and Bica udal D (BicD), maternal proteins required for oocyte determination, are sel ectively recruited by, and co-transported with, localizing transcripts in b lastoderm embryos, and that interfering with the activities of Egl and BicD blocks apical localization. We propose that Egl and BicD are core componen ts of a selective dynein motor complex that drives transcript localization in a variety of tissues.