Access
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
Letter
Nature 452, 1017-1021 (24 April 2008) | doi:10.1038/nature06809; Received 18 December 2007; Accepted 6 February 2008; Published online 2 April 2008
Open Innovation Challenges
-
Methods to Analyze Consumer Emotions
The Seeker is looking for methods to analyze consumer emotions. This Challenge requires only a writ...
-
Single-cell Analysis Platform
This Challenge is looking for novel approaches to analyzing changes at a single-cell level. This is...
nature jobs
Sr. Scientific Manager / Chief Scientific Manager - Discovery Bioanalytical Research and Biotransformation
- Syngene International
- Bangalore, Karnataka 560099 India
Copy Editor
- Indegene Lifesystems Pvt. Ltd
- Bengaluru 560 071 India
A deadenylation negative feedback mechanism governs meiotic metaphase arrest
Eulàlia Belloc1 & Raúl Méndez1
- Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), C/Dr Aiguader 88, 08003, Barcelona, Spain
Correspondence to: Raúl Méndez1 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to R.M. (Email: raul.mendez@crg.es).
Abstract
In vertebrate oocytes, meiotic progression is driven by the sequential translational activation of maternal messenger RNAs stored in the cytoplasm. This activation is mainly induced by the cytoplasmic elongation of their poly(A) tails, which is mediated by the cytoplasmic polyadenylation element (CPE) present in their 3' untranslated regions1, 2. In Xenopus oocytes, sequential phase-specific translation of CPE-regulated mRNAs is required to activate the maturation-promoting factor, which in turn mediates entry into the two consecutive meiotic metaphases (MI and MII)3, 4, 5, 6. Here we report a genome-wide functional screening to identify previously unknown mRNAs cytoplasmically polyadenylated at meiotic phase transitions. A significant fraction of transcripts containing, in addition to CPEs, (A + U)-rich element (ARE) sequences (characteristic of mRNAs regulated by deadenylation7) were identified. Among these is the mRNA encoding C3H-4, an ARE-binding protein that we find to accumulate in MI and the ablation of which induces meiotic arrest. Our results suggest that C3H-4 recruits the CCR4 deadenylase complex to ARE-containing mRNAs and this, in turn, causes shortening of poly(A) tails. We also show that the opposing activities of the CPEs and the AREs define the precise activation times of the mRNAs encoding the anaphase-promoting complex inhibitors Emi1 and Emi2 during distinct phases of the meiotic cycle. Taken together, our results show that an 'early' wave of cytoplasmic polyadenylation activates a negative feedback loop by activating the synthesis of C3H-4, which in turn would recruit the deadenylase complex to mRNAs containing both CPEs and AREs. This negative feedback loop is required to exit from metaphase into interkinesis and for meiotic progression.
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
NEWS AND VIEWS
Dendritic mRNA translation: deciphering the uncodedNature Neuroscience News and Views (01 Nov 2000)
Under arrest in the cell cycleNature News and Views (30 Nov 1989)
RESEARCH
Evidence that bone morphogenetic protein 4 has multiple biological functions during kidney and urinary tract developmentKidney International Original Article
Differential mRNA translation and meiotic progression require Cdc2-mediated CPEB destructionThe EMBO Journal Article (01 Apr 2002)
See all 58 matches for Research
