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XB-ART-43778
PLoS One. January 1, 2011; 6 (8): Unfertilized Xenopus eggs die by Bad-dependent apoptosis under the control of Cdk1 and JNK.
Du Pasquier D
,
Dupré A
,
Jessus C
.
Abstract Ovulated eggs possess maternal apoptotic execution machinery that is inhibited for a limited time. The fertilized eggs switch off this time bomb whereas aged unfertilized eggs and parthenogenetically activated eggs fail to stop the timer and die. To investigate the nature of the molecular clock that triggers the egg decision of committing suicide, we introduce here Xenopus eggs as an in vivo system for studying the death of unfertilized eggs. We report that after ovulation, a number of eggs remains in the female body where they die by apoptosis. Similarly, ovulated unfertilized eggs recovered in the external medium die within 72 h. We showed that the death process depends on both cytochrome c release and caspase activation. The apoptotic machinery is turned on during meiotic maturation, before fertilization. The death pathway is independent of ERK but relies on activating Bad phosphorylation through the control of both kinases Cdk1 and JNK. In conclusion, the default fate of an unfertilized Xenopus egg is to die by a mitochondrial dependent apoptosis activated during meiotic maturation.Pubmed Id: 21858202 Article link: PLoS One.Genes referenced: cdk1 clock mapk1 mapk8 wwc2 Antibodies referenced: |
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