In many organisms, the female centrioles are degraded in oocytes and the zygote centrosome is inherited from the sperm. Fertilization often proceeds before completion of female meiosis II, and therefore capture of the female DNA by the male centrosomal aster has to be delayed until after completion of this division. McNally and colleagues (Dev. Cell http://doi.org/htm; 2012) have found that, in Caenorhabditis elegans, the motor protein kinesin-1 and its associated binding protein KCA-1 coat the male pronucleus and centrioles to prevent the recruitment of the maternal pericentriolar material required for centrosome maturation. They observe that RNA-interference depletion of the kinesin-1 motor chain, the kinesin light chain or KCA-1 induces the premature growth of microtubules by the sperm aster and the capture of the female spindle by the sperm centrosome. Using immunofluorescence, the kinesin motor and KCA-1 were shown to localize tightly around the male pronucleus in a region devoid of yolk proteins. This coating decreases after meiotic completion, and correlates with the degradation of KCA-1 protein in an anaphase-promoting complex (APC)-dependent manner. This function of kinesin-1 is independent of microtubules, and thus does not seem to require kinesin-1 motor activity. The authors also uncover a further role for kinesin-1 in positioning the male pronucleus deep inside the cytoplasm until completion of female meiosis near the cortex.