Spindlin, a major maternal transcript expressed in the mouse during the transition from oocyte to embryo.
Timely translation of maternal transcripts and post-translational modification of their gene products control the initial development of preimplantation-stage embryos. We have isolated and characterized a gene encoding a stage-specific embryonic protein. This novel gene, spindlin (Spin), is an abundant maternal transcript present in the unfertilized egg and 2-cell, but not 8-cell, stage embryo. Spin exhibits high homology to a multicopy gene, Y-linked spermiogenesis-specific transcript (Ssty), and together they form a new gene family expressed during gametogenesis. We find that spindlin associates with the meiotic spindle and is modified by phosphorylation in a cell-cycle-dependent fashion. Furthermore, it comigrates with the previously described 30x10(3) Mr metaphase complex which is posttranslationally modified during the first mitotic cell cycle. Our data suggest that spindlin plays a role in cell-cycle regulation during the transition from gamete to embryo.
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The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME 04609, USA.
Hwang
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Solter
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Knowles
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D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D002453:Cell Cycle; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D018392:Genomic Imprinting; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D009865:Oocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D010053:Ovary / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D010750:Phosphoproteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013091:Spermatogenesis; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014998:Y Chromosome; D015053:Zygote / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology
D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D010750:Phosphoproteins; C104434:spindlin