Polarised cell migration: intrinsic and extrinsic drivers

Cell polarity arises out of asymmetry of the distribution and organisation of cell contents. Polarity is an important feature of all living organisms and much energy is devoted to breaking symmetry and establishing polarity. Recent developments in our understanding of how the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae establishes and maintains polarity for cell division shed light on universal mechanisms that may be relevant to both asymmetric cell division and polarised cell migration in other organisms. Here, we summarise some of the recent developments in our understanding of polarity of the cytoskeleton and associated signalling molecules as it relates to cell migration. Parallels are drawn between planar cell polarity and apical-basal polarity in epithelial tissues and front-back polarity in migrating cells.