Cleavage arrest in Xenopus embryos injected with a human c-myc gene.
The c-myc protein has been implicated in cell proliferation and differentiation of various cell lines, but its function in early embryos of Xenopus is obscure. We introduced the c-myc gene into embryos using a pcDL-SR alpha plasmid with an efficient promoter of the gene. It was found that fertilized eggs injected with the c-myc gene were arrested at the 4-cell stage within 1 h of the injection, when the plasmid that carried c-myc gene but not the plasmid that carried defective c-myc gene was injected. These results also suggest that Xenopus embryos already have the ability to transcribe an exogenously injected c-myc gene at the 4-cell stage.
Miyata
S
S
Laboratory of Research for Biosynthesis and Metabolism, Keio University, School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Tachibana
K
K
Takano
T
T
Asano
M
M
Shiokawa
K
K
Kihara
H K
HK
D000818:Animals; D002455:Cell Division; D002970:Cleavage Stage, Ovum / Q000166:cytology*; D015870:Gene Expression; D016259:Genes, myc; D008845:Microinjections; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc / Q000502:physiology*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D013997:Time Factors; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000196:embryology*
D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D011994:Recombinant Proteins