Genetic analysis of intrinsically asymmetrical cell division

Abstract Intrinsically asymmetrical cell division is a major mechanism for generating cell diversity. In this process, referred to simply as asymmetrical division in this chapter, cytoplasmic and cortical asymmetries within a mother cell combine with an oriented cell division to produce daughter cells with different cytoplasmic components and consequently different cell fates (1). As illustrated in Fig. 1, there are three processes that contribute to asymmetrical cell divisions: (1) establishment of polarity; (2) localization of determinants; (3) oriented cell division.