Incorporation of mouse zona pellucida proteins into the envelope of Xenopus laevis oocytes

Citation
S. Doren et al., Incorporation of mouse zona pellucida proteins into the envelope of Xenopus laevis oocytes, DEV GENES E, 209(6), 1999, pp. 330-339
Citations number
68
Categorie Soggetti
Cell & Developmental Biology
Journal title
DEVELOPMENT GENES AND EVOLUTION
ISSN journal
0949944X → ACNP
Volume
209
Issue
6
Year of publication
1999
Pages
330 - 339
Database
ISI
SICI code
0949-944X(199906)209:6<330:IOMZPP>2.0.ZU;2-V
Abstract
All vertebrate eggs have extracellular matrices, referred to as the zona pe llucida in Mus musculus and the vitelline envelope in Xenopus laevis. The m ouse zona, composed of three sulfated glycoproteins (ZP1, ZP2, ZP3), is cri tical for fertilization and early development, and mice lacking a zona pell ucida produce no live offspring. The primary structures of mouse ZP1 (623 a mino acids), ZP2 (713 amino acids) and ZP3 (424 amino acids) have been dedu ced from full-length cDNAs, but posttranslational modifications result in m ature zona proteins with molecular masses of 200-180 kDa, 140-120 kDa, and 83 kDa, respectively. The vitelline envelope forms a similar structure arou nd Xenopus eggs and contains three glycoproteins that are structurally rela ted (39-48% amino acid similarity) to the three mouse zona proteins. To inv estigate whether the structural semblances are sufficient to allow incorpor ation of the mouse zona proteins into the Xenopus vitelline envelope, cappe d synthetic mRNAs encoding ZP1, ZP2, and ZP3 proteins were injected into th e cytoplasm of stage VI Xenopus oocytes. After 20 h of incubation the oocyt es were harvested, and posttranslationally modified zona proteins were dete cted with monoclonal antibodies specific to mouse ZP1, ZP2, and ZP3. The oo cytes were imaged with confocal microscopy to detect individual zona protei ns in the extracellular matrix of the oocytes, and this localization was co nfirmed biochemically, Thus the mouse zona proteins appear to have been suf ficiently conserved through 350 million years of evolution to be incorporat ed into the extracellular envelope surrounding Xenopus eggs.