During epithelial cell differentiation, a radial microtubule array anchored at the centrosome reorganises into an apico-basal array anchored at apical non-centrosomal sites. This major reorganisation involves the release/relocation of microtubule-anchoring proteins such as the centrosomal protein ninein, but this process has not been studied in detail. Now, on p. 3064, Mette Mogensen and co-authors report that ninein is released from the centrosome and transported along microtubules to apical non-centrosomal anchoring sites during epithelial cell differentiation. They show that it is present at the centrosome and in cytoplasmic speckles in cultured epithelial cells and use fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) to reveal dynamic exchange between these ninein pools. They use immunolocalisation and live-cell imaging in situ (in the inner ear) and in culture, respectively, to demonstrate that ninein speckles are released from the centrosome and relocate to apical non-centrosomal anchoring sites in a microtubule-dependent manner during epithelial differentiation. Finally, the...

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