spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif ARCHIVE ANNOUNCEMENT! spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kelso-Winemiller, L. C.
Right arrow Articles by Winkler, M. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Kelso-Winemiller, L. C.
Right arrow Articles by Winkler, M. M.

Development, Vol 111, Issue 2 623-633, Copyright © 1991 by Company of Biologists

JOURNAL ARTICLES

'Unmasking' of stored maternal mRNAs and the activation of protein synthesis at fertilization in sea urchins

LC Kelso-Winemiller and MM Winkler
Department of Zoology, University of Texas, Austin 78712-1064.

The isolation and in vitro assay of maternal mRNPs has led to differing conclusions as to whether maternal mRNAs in sea urchin eggs are in a repressed or 'masked' form. To circumvent the problems involved with in vitro approaches, we have used an in vivo assay to determine if the availability of mRNA and/or components of the translational machinery are limiting protein synthesis in the unfertilized egg. This assay involves the use of a protein synthesis elongation inhibitor to create a situation in the egg in which there is excess translational machinery available to bind mRNA. Eggs were fertilized and the rate of entry into polysomes of individual mRNAs was measured in inhibitor-treated and control embryos using 32P-labeled cDNA probes. The fraction of ribosomes in polysomes and the polysome size were also determined. The results from this in vivo approach provide strong evidence for the coactivation of both mRNAs and components of the translational machinery following fertilization. The average polysome size increases from 7.5 ribosomes per message in 15 min embryos to approximately 10.8 ribosomes in 2 h embryos. This result gives additional support to the idea that translational machinery, as well as mRNA, is activated following fertilization. We also found that individual mRNAs are recruited into polysomes with different kinetics, and that the fraction of an mRNA in polysomes in the unfertilized egg correlates with the rate at which that mRNA is recruited into polysomes following fertilization.


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Mol. Endocrinol.Home page
K. M. Choi, I. Barash, and R. E. Rhoads
Insulin and Prolactin Synergistically Stimulate {beta}-Casein Messenger Ribonucleic Acid Translation by Cytoplasmic Polyadenylation
Mol. Endocrinol., July 1, 2004; 18(7): 1670 - 1686.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 DevelopmentHome page
L. Berg, S. Chen, and G. Wessel
An extracellular matrix molecule that is selectively expressed during development is important for gastrulation in the sea urchin embryo
Development, January 2, 1996; 122(2): 703 - 713.
[Abstract] [PDF]


© The Company of Biologists Ltd 1991