title: How to make a good egg!: The need for remodeling of oocyte Ca(2+) signaling to mediate the egg-to-embryo transition.
abstract: The egg-to-embryo transition marks the initiation of multicellular organismal development and is mediated by a specialized Ca(2+) transient at fertilization. This explosive Ca(2+) signal has captured the interest and imagination of scientists for many decades, given its cataclysmic nature and necessity for the egg-to-embryo transition. Learning how the egg acquires the competency to generate this Ca(2+) transient at fertilization is essential to our understanding of the mechanisms controlling egg and the transition to embryogenesis. In this review we discuss our current knowledge of how Ca(2+) signaling pathways remodel during oocyte maturation in preparation for fertilization with a special emphasis on the frog oocyte as additional reviews in this issue will touch on this in other species.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q), Education City, Qatar Foundation, Qatar.
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nader
authors.forename: Rashmi P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Kulkarni
authors.forename: Maya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dib
authors.forename: Khaled
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Machaca
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D020013:Calcium Signaling; D047108:Embryonic Development; D005306:Fertilization; D009865:Oocytes / Q000502:physiology*; D014981:Xenopus