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  • The EMBO Journal (2006) 25, 2792 - 2801
  • doi:10.1038/sj.emboj.7601159

Published online: 8 June 2006

Musashi regulates the temporal order of mRNA translation during Xenopus oocyte maturation

Amanda Charlesworth1, Anna Wilczynska1, Prajitha Thampi1, Linda L Cox1 and Angus M MacNicol1,2

  1. Department of Neurobiology and Developmental Sciences, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, USA
  2. The Arkansas Cancer Research Center, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, USA

Correspondence to:

Angus M MacNicol, Department of Neurobiology and Developmental Sciences, The Arkansas Cancer Research Center, Slot 814, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 4301 West Markham, Little Rock, AR 72205, USA. Tel.: +1 501 686 8164; Fax: +1 501 686 6517; E-mail: Angus@UAMS.edu

Received 1 December 2005; Accepted 28 April 2006

A strict temporal order of maternal mRNA translation is essential for meiotic cell cycle progression in oocytes of the frog Xenopus laevis. The molecular mechanisms controlling the ordered pattern of mRNA translational activation have not been elucidated. We report a novel role for the neural stem cell regulatory protein, Musashi, in controlling the translational activation of the mRNA encoding the Mos proto-oncogene during meiotic cell cycle progression. We demonstrate that Musashi interacts specifically with the polyadenylation response element in the 3' untranslated region of the Mos mRNA and that this interaction is necessary for early Mos mRNA translational activation. A dominant inhibitory form of Musashi blocks maternal mRNA cytoplasmic polyadenylation and meiotic cell cycle progression. Our data suggest that Musashi is a target of the initiating progesterone signaling pathway and reveal that late cytoplasmic polyadenylation element-directed mRNA translation requires early, Musashi-dependent mRNA translation. These findings indicate that Musashi function is necessary to establish the temporal order of maternal mRNA translation during Xenopus meiotic cell cycle progression.

  • Keywords:

    • cell cycle,
    • cytoplasmic polyadenylation,
    • Mos,
    • Xenopus