Translational regulation of maternal mRNAs

Translational regulation of maternal mRNAs serves to constrain their activities in both time and space. Both types of constraint might be expected to be critical for normal development and the rather short list of maternal mRNAs for which this has been shown to be true has expanded considerably over the past year. Substantial progress has also been reported in the identification and characterization of the cis-acting elements and trans-acting factors that mediate translational regulation and their interactions with one another.