Eukaryotic cells transport macromolecules over long distances along the microtubule cytoskeleton using the molecular motors dynein and kinesin. One barrier to understanding how motors transport a vast array of cargos with spatial and temporal specificity is the lack of rapid genetic methods to identify new genes involved in the process. In the March 1 issue of Molecular Biology of the Cell, the Reck-Peterson Lab reported a microscopy-based screening method involving multiplexed genome sequencing in the model organism Aspergillus nidulans. A. nidulans, a filamentous fungus, is an ideal model to study transport because of its reliance on the microtubule cytoskeleton for growth, the ease of manipulating its genome using homologous recombination, and its well-characterized life cycle that is amenable to rapid genetic analysis.
