mRNA localization is a common mode of posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression that targets a protein to its site of function.

The Gurken localisation signal is an RNA regulatory element conserved across many species of Drosophila.

[2] During Drosophila oogenesis, signaling between the germline and the soma leads to the establishment of anterior-posterior polarity in the egg and the embryo.

This process involves the interaction of gurken (grk), a TGFα-like protein, with torpedo (top), the Drosophila epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR).

[4] Gurken mRNA transcripts which are not localized to the dorsal-anterior of an oocyte become silenced via post-translational modifications.