title: Involvement of Protein Acyltransferase ZDHHC3 in Maintaining Oocyte Meiotic Arrest in Xenopus laevis.
abstract: Fully grown oocytes of most vertebrates are arrested at prophase I of meiosis (G2 arrest). Upon exposure to steroid hormones, oocytes resume meiotic process, also called G2/M transition. The G protein-signaling pathway has been shown to play essential roles in the meiotic arrest at G2 phase. Previously, we showed that long chain fatty acyl-coenzyme A synthetase acsl1b was required for maintaining the meiotic arrest in Xenopus Acsl1b presumably synthesizes palmitoyl-coenzyme A that can be utilized by acyltransferases to modify proteins essential for the G2 arrest. In the present study, we report that protein acyltransferase ZDHHC3 functions downstream of acsl1b to maintain oocyte meiotic arrest. Depletion of maternal ZDHHC3 RNA in oocytes reduces the progesterone threshold to promote G2/M transition from 2 to 0.01 μM. As expected, Gsalpha palmitoylation level is greatly decreased in ZDHHC3-depleted oocytes. Furthermore, we mapped ZDHHC3 palmitoylation sites in Gsalpha and showed that palmitoylation-deficient Gsalpha failed to arrest oocytes at G2. We also identified a critical residue in ZDHHC3 critically required for its palmitoylation activity toward Gsalpha. Taken together, ZDHHC3 is a key acyltransferase to palmitoylate proteins in order to maintain G2 arrest in Xenopus oocytes.
authors: State Key Laboratory for Agrobiotechnology, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors: Junshun
authors: J
authors: Fang
authors: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors: Huawei
authors: H
authors: Wang
authors: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors: Liyun
authors: L
authors: Miao
authors: State Key Laboratory for Agrobiotechnology, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors: Xia
authors: X
authors: Kuang
authors: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors: Weirui
authors: W
authors: Ma
authors: State Key Laboratory for Agrobiotechnology, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
authors: Chao
authors: C
authors: Wang
authors: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China jianzhang84@genetics.ac.cn.
authors: Jian
authors: J
authors: Zhang
authors: State Key Laboratory for Agrobiotechnology, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China glxiachina@sohu.com.
authors: Guoliang
authors: G
authors: Xia
keywords: Gs alpha; Xenopus; ZDHHC3; acyltransferase; meiosis; palmitoylation