FIGURE 8. Parthenogenetic pronuclear development in porcine (Sus scrofa) and frog (X. laevis) oocytes upon microinjection of recPAWP. A large female pronucleus (b) with a nuclear envelope that contains nuclear pore complexes (f) and an up-regulation of c-Yes tyrosine foci (d) were observed in the recPAWP-injected porcine oocytes. Sham-injected oocytes on the contrary remained at MII-arrested stage (a, c, e). Similarily sham or sham + BSA-injected Xenopus oocytes remained in the MII-arrested state with one polar body present (g). Injection of either alkaline PT extract or recPAWP induced a high degree of oocyte activation evident by the extrusion of the second polar body (h). The forming pronucleus of the activated oocyte, often difficult to observe due to the vast size and the non-transparent outer coat of the Xenopus egg, was caught sinking into the cytoplasm (PN and asterisk in inset) after activation with recPAWP. When the alkaline PT extract or recPAWP was co-injected with the PPXY peptide, the oocytes remained in the MII-arrested state as in the sham and BSA injected eggs (g), while co-injection of the mutated PPXF peptide was ineffective in blocking oocyte activation (see supplemental Fig. 4). DNA was labeled using DAPI in porcine oocytes and SYTOX Green in Xenopus oocytes. Bars = 10 μm.
Image published in: Wu AT et al. (2007)
Copyright © 2007. Image reproduced with permission of the publisher and the copyright holder. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.
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