Balancing the scales: fine-tuning Polo-like kinase 4 to ensure proper centriole duplication

Polo-like kinase 4 (Plk4) is the master regulator of centriole assembly. Several evolutionarily conserved mechanisms strictly regulate Plk4 abundance and activity to ensure cells maintain a proper number of centrioles. In this issue of Genes & Development, Phan et al. (pp. 718–736) add to this growing list by describing a new mechanism of control that restricts Plk4 translation through competitive ribosome binding at upstream open reading frames (uORFs) in the mature Plk4 mRNA. Fascinatingly, this mechanism is especially critical in the development of primordial germ cells in mice that are transcriptionally hyperactive and thus exquisitely sensitive to Plk4 mRNA regulation.