Skip to main content
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences logoLink to Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
. 1997 Mar 22;264(1380):323–328. doi: 10.1098/rspb.1997.0046

Mutant female mice carrying a single mZP3 allele produce eggs with a thin zona pellucida, but reproduce normally.

P M Wassarman 1, H Qi 1, E S Litscher 1
PMCID: PMC1688261  PMID: 9107049

Abstract

The mouse egg zona pellucida (ZP) is composed of three glycoproteins, called mZP1-3. Disruption of the mZP3 gene by targeted mutagenesis yields mice that are homozygous (mZP3-/-) for the null mutation; although the mutant mice are viable, females are infertile and their eggs lack a ZP. On the other hand, females heterozygous (mZP3+/-) for the mutation are fertile and their eggs have a ZP. Here, we examined fully grown oocytes from mZP3+/- females and found that, although they have a ZP, it is less than half the width (approximately 2.7 microns; volume, approximately 56 pl) of the ZP of oocytes from wild-type (mZP3+/+) mice (approximately 6.2 microns; volume, approximately 145 pl). Oocyte ZP were purified from ovarian homogenates by gradient centrifugation. Immunostaining of purified ZP on Western gels permitted an estimate to be made of the relative amounts of mZP3 and mZP2 present in the ZP of oocytes from mZP3+/+ and mZP3+/- mice. We found that the ZP from mZP3+/- mice contained, on average, 55 +/- 15% of the mZP3 and 44 +/- 8% of the mZP2 present in the ZP of mZP3+/+ mice; a result quite consistent with the observed widths and calculated volumes of the ZP. Despite the presence of a relatively thin ZP surrounding their eggs, reproduction of female mZP3+/- mice was indistinguishable from female mZP3+/+ mice. These results strongly suggest that, when a single mZP3 allele is present, approximately half the wild-type amount of mZP3 and approximately half the wild-type amount of mZP2 is assembled into a ZP. While this produces a relatively thin ZP, it apparently has no affect on reproduction. Furthermore, these results are consistent with the current molecular model for ZP structure.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (390.4 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bleil J. D., Greve J. M., Wassarman P. M. Identification of a secondary sperm receptor in the mouse egg zona pellucida: role in maintenance of binding of acrosome-reacted sperm to eggs. Dev Biol. 1988 Aug;128(2):376–385. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(88)90299-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bleil J. D., Wassarman P. M. Autoradiographic visualization of the mouse egg's sperm receptor bound to sperm. J Cell Biol. 1986 Apr;102(4):1363–1371. doi: 10.1083/jcb.102.4.1363. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bleil J. D., Wassarman P. M. Mammalian sperm-egg interaction: identification of a glycoprotein in mouse egg zonae pellucidae possessing receptor activity for sperm. Cell. 1980 Jul;20(3):873–882. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(80)90334-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Epifano O., Dean J. Biology and structure of the zona pellucida: a target for immunocontraception. Reprod Fertil Dev. 1994;6(3):319–330. doi: 10.1071/rd9940319. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Florman H. M., Wassarman P. M. O-linked oligosaccharides of mouse egg ZP3 account for its sperm receptor activity. Cell. 1985 May;41(1):313–324. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90084-4. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Greve J. M., Wassarman P. M. Mouse egg extracellular coat is a matrix of interconnected filaments possessing a structural repeat. J Mol Biol. 1985 Jan 20;181(2):253–264. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(85)90089-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Liu C., Litscher E. S., Mortillo S., Sakai Y., Kinloch R. A., Stewart C. L., Wassarman P. M. Targeted disruption of the mZP3 gene results in production of eggs lacking a zona pellucida and infertility in female mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1996 May 28;93(11):5431–5436. doi: 10.1073/pnas.93.11.5431. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Rankin T., Familari M., Lee E., Ginsberg A., Dwyer N., Blanchette-Mackie J., Drago J., Westphal H., Dean J. Mice homozygous for an insertional mutation in the Zp3 gene lack a zona pellucida and are infertile. Development. 1996 Sep;122(9):2903–2910. doi: 10.1242/dev.122.9.2903. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Schultz R. M., Letourneau G. E., Wassarman P. M. Program of early development in the mammal: changes in the patterns and absolute rates of tubulin and total protein synthesis during oocyte growth in the mouse. Dev Biol. 1979 Nov;73(1):120–133. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(79)90142-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Snell W. J., White J. M. The molecules of mammalian fertilization. Cell. 1996 May 31;85(5):629–637. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(00)81230-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Tong Z. B., Nelson L. M., Dean J. Inhibition of zona pellucida gene expression by antisense oligonucleotides injected into mouse oocytes. J Biol Chem. 1995 Jan 13;270(2):849–853. doi: 10.1074/jbc.270.2.849. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Wassarman P. M., Bleil J. D., Florman H. M., Greve J. M., Roller R. J., Salzmann G. S., Samuels F. G. The mouse egg's receptor for sperm: what is it and how does it work? Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 1985;50:11–19. doi: 10.1101/sqb.1985.050.01.004. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Wassarman P. M., Litscher E. S. Sperm--egg recognition mechanisms in mammals. Curr Top Dev Biol. 1995;30:1–19. doi: 10.1016/s0070-2153(08)60562-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Wassarman P. M., Liu C., Litscher E. S. Constructing the mammalian egg zona pellucida: some new pieces of an old puzzle. J Cell Sci. 1996 Aug;109(Pt 8):2001–2004. doi: 10.1242/jcs.109.8.2001. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Wassarman P. M. Profile of a mammalian sperm receptor. Development. 1990 Jan;108(1):1–17. doi: 10.1242/dev.108.Supplement.1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Wassarman P. M. The biology and chemistry of fertilization. Science. 1987 Jan 30;235(4788):553–560. doi: 10.1126/science.3027891. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Wassarman P. M. Towards molecular mechanisms for gamete adhesion and fusion during mammalian fertilization. Curr Opin Cell Biol. 1995 Oct;7(5):658–664. doi: 10.1016/0955-0674(95)80107-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Wassarman P. M. Zona pellucida glycoproteins. Annu Rev Biochem. 1988;57:415–442. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.57.070188.002215. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences are provided here courtesy of The Royal Society

RESOURCES