Abstract
Between fertilization, or parthenogenetic activation, and the two-cell stage, the content of polyadenylic acid in sea urchin eggs doubles, and the increase occurs primarily in the ribosome-polyribosome fraction. The increase is due to polyadenylation of preexisting RNA molecules synthesized during oogenesis. The polyadenylation occurs in activated, enucleated merogons. It is argued that cytoplasmic polyadenylation may play a role in mobilization of maternal messenger RNA for translation and the polyadenylic acid does not subserve an exclusively nuclear function.
Keywords: oogenesis, parthenogenetic merogons
Full text
PDF




Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Adesnik M., Salditt M., Thomas W., Darnell J. E. Evidence that all messenger RNA molecules (except histone messenger RNA) contain Poly (A) sequences and that the Poly(A) has a nuclear function. J Mol Biol. 1972 Oct 28;71(1):21–30. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(72)90397-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Aronson A. I., Wilt F. H., Wartiovaara J. Characterization of pulse-labeled nuclear RNA in sea urchin embryos. Exp Cell Res. 1972 May;72(1):309–324. doi: 10.1016/0014-4827(72)90592-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Aviv H., Leder P. Purification of biologically active globin messenger RNA by chromatography on oligothymidylic acid-cellulose. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1972 Jun;69(6):1408–1412. doi: 10.1073/pnas.69.6.1408. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Chamberlain J. P., Metz C. B. Mitochondrial RNA synthesis in sea urchin embryos. J Mol Biol. 1972 Mar 14;64(3):593–607. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(72)90085-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Denny P. C., Tyler A. Activation of protein biosynthesis in non-nucleate fragments of sea urchin eggs. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1964;14:245–249. doi: 10.1016/0006-291x(64)90443-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- GROSS P. R., KRAEMER K., MALKIN L. I. BASE COMPOSITION OF RNA SYNTHESIZED DURING CLEAVAGE OF THE SEA URCHIN EMBRYO. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1965 Feb 17;18:569–575. doi: 10.1016/0006-291x(65)90792-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gross P. R. The control of protein synthesis in embryonic development and differentiation. Curr Top Dev Biol. 1967;2:1–46. doi: 10.1016/s0070-2153(08)60282-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- HULTIN T. Activation of ribosomes in sea urchin eggs in response to fertilization. Exp Cell Res. 1961 Nov;25:405–417. doi: 10.1016/0014-4827(61)90290-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Humphreys T. Measurements of messenger RNA entering polysomes upon fertilization of sea urchin eggs. Dev Biol. 1971 Oct;26(2):201–208. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(71)90122-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- KATZ S., COMB D. G. A NEW METHOD FOR THE DETERMINATION OF THE BASE COMPOSITION OF RIBONUCLEIC ACID. J Biol Chem. 1963 Sep;238:3065–3067. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Perry R. P., Greenberg J. R., Kelley D. E., LaTorre J., Schochetman G. Messenger RNA: its origin and fate in mammalian cells. Basic Life Sci. 1973;1:149–168. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4684-0877-5_12. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Riley M., Maling B. Physical and chemical characterization of two- and three-stranded adenine-thymine and adenine-uracil homopolymer complexes. J Mol Biol. 1966 Sep;20(2):359–389. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(66)90069-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Slater D. W., Slater I., Gillespie D. Post-fertilization synthesis of polyadenylic acid in sea urchin embryos. Nature. 1972 Dec 8;240(5380):333–337. doi: 10.1038/240333a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Slater I., Gillespie D., Slater D. W. Cytoplasmic adenylylation and processing of maternal RNA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1973 Feb;70(2):406–411. doi: 10.1073/pnas.70.2.406. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]