Localization of mitotic factors on metaphase chromosomes

1982 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 193-206
Author(s):  
R.C. Adlakha ◽  
C.G. Sahasrabuddhe ◽  
D.A. Wright ◽  
W.F. Lindsey ◽  
P.N. Rao

The objective of this study was to determine whether the mitotic factors of HeLa cells, which induce meiotic maturation, i.e. germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) and chromosome condensation, when injected into fully grown Xenopus laevis oocytes, were localized in the cytoplasm or associated with the metaphase chromosomes. Cytoplasmic extracts were prepared by lysing mitotic HeLa cells in low-salt hypotonic buffer and separating the chromosomes by centrifugation. Th mitotic factors bound to chromosomes were extracted with high-salt (0.2 M-NaCl) buffer. Both the cytoplasmic and chromosomal protein fractions were evaluated for their maturation-promoting activity (MPA) in the Xenopus oocytes. The results of this study indicate that both the cytoplasmic and chromosomal fractions are identical in many respects, including their ability to induce GVBD, but the specific activity of the chromosomal fraction was at least threefold greater than that of the cytoplasmic fraction. These data suggest that a major portion of the mitotic factors is localized on the metaphase chromosomes. This association does not appear to be due to adventitious binding of mitotic proteins to chromosomes during the extraction procedures. Furthermore, when extracts were prepared in a similar way from early- and mid-G2-phase HeLa cells, only the nuclear extracts had MPA and no activity was found in the cytoplasmic fraction. Both the cytoplasmic and nuclear extracts of late-G2 cells exhibited MPA. These data support the conclusion that the mitotic factors become preferentially bound to chromatin as soon as they are synthesized, and as the cell synthesizes more of these factors in preparation for mitosis, increasing amounts of them are retained in the cytoplasm.

1984 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 279-295
Author(s):  
R.C. Adlakha ◽  
Y.C. Wang ◽  
D.A. Wright ◽  
C.G. Sahasrabuddhe ◽  
H. Bigo ◽  
...  

Extracts from mitotic HeLa cells, when injected into fully grown Xenopus laevis oocytes, exhibit maturation-promoting activity (MPA) indicated by germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) and chromosome condensation. Recently, we observed that the MPA of mitotic cell extracts is neutralized by the inhibitors of mitotic factors (IMF) in HeLa cells, which are activated at telophase and remain active throughout the G1 period. The activity of the IMF coincides with the process of chromosome decondensation, which begins at telophase and continues until the beginning of S phase, when chromatin reaches its most decondensed state. The objective of the present study was to investigate whether these two phenomena - chromosome decondensation and the activation of IMF - were related. The activity of IMF was measured in N2O-blocked mitotic HeLa cells, in which chromosome decondensation was induced by exposure to ultraviolet light, and subsequent incubation in medium containing inhibitors of DNA synthesis, hydroxyurea and arabinosylcytosine (araC). u.v. irradiation activated IMF was seen even at very high doses of X-irradiation. The IMF seemed to inactivate the mitotic factors directly by forming a complex that precipitated on heating at 60 degrees C for 15 min. Mg2+ or polyamines (i.e. spermine, spermidine, and putrescine), agents known to promote chromatin condensation partially restored the MPA of the u.v.-irradiated mitotic cell extracts. These results tend to support the conclusion that the IMF play a role in the decondensation of chromosomes.


1993 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 4197-4202 ◽  
Author(s):  
A J Muslin ◽  
A M MacNicol ◽  
L T Williams

In somatic cells, the Raf-1 serine/threonine protein kinase is activated by several polypeptide growth factors. We investigated the role of Raf-1 in progesterone-induced meiotic maturation of Xenopus laevis oocytes. Raf-1 enzymatic activity and phosphorylation (reflected by a mobility shift on sodium dodecyl sulfate gels) were increased in oocytes following progesterone stimulation. The increase in Raf-1 activity was concurrent with an elevation in the activity of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase. When RNA encoding an oncogenic form of Raf-1 (v-Raf) was injected into immature oocytes, MAP kinase mobility shift, germinal vesicle breakdown, and histone H1 phosphorylation increased markedly. When RNA encoding a dominant-negative version of Raf-1 was injected, progesterone-induced oocyte maturation was blocked. When RNA encoding Xenopus mos (mosxe) was injected into oocytes, Raf-1 and MAP kinase mobility shifts were observed after several hours. Also, when antisense mosxe oligonucleotides were injected into oocytes, progesterone-induced Raf-1 and MAP kinase mobility shifts were blocked. Finally, when antisense mosxe oligonucleotides were coinjected with v-Raf RNA into oocytes, histone H1 kinase activation, germinal vesicle breakdown, and MAP kinase mobility shift occurred. These findings suggest that Raf-1 activity is required for progesterone-induced oocyte maturation and that Raf-1 is downstream of mosxe activity.


1984 ◽  
Vol 98 (4) ◽  
pp. 1247-1255 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Gerhart ◽  
M Wu ◽  
M Kirschner

We have examined the regulation of maturation-promoting factor (MPF) activity in the mitotic and meiotic cell cycles of Xenopus laevis eggs and oocytes. To this end, we developed a method for the small scale extraction of eggs and oocytes and measured MPF activity in extracts by a dilution end point assay. We find that in oocytes, MPF activity appears before germinal vesicle breakdown and then disappears rapidly at the end of the first meiotic cycle. In the second meiotic cycle, MPF reappears before second metaphase, when maturation arrests. Thus, MPF cycling coincides with the abbreviated cycles of meiosis. When oocytes are induced to mature by low levels of injected MPF, cycloheximide does not prevent the appearance of MPF at high levels in the first cycle. This amplification indicates that an MPF precursor is present in the oocyte and activated by posttranslational means, triggered by the low level of injected MPF. Furthermore, MPF disappears approximately on time in such oocytes, indicating that the agent for MPF inactivation is also activated by posttranslational means. However, in the absence of protein synthesis, MPF never reappears in the second meiotic cycle. Upon fertilization or artificial activation of normal eggs, MPF disappears from the cytoplasm within 8 min. For a period thereafter, the inactivating agent remains able to destroy large amounts of MPF injected into the egg. It loses activity just as endogenous MPF appears at prophase of the first mitotic cycle. The repeated reciprocal cycling of MPF and the inactivating agent during cleavage stages is unaffected by colchicine and nocodazole and therefore does not require the effective completion of spindle formation, mitosis, or cytokinesis. However, MPF appearance is blocked by cycloheximide applied before mitosis; and MPF disappearance is blocked by cytostatic factor. In all these respects, MPF and the inactivating agent seem to be tightly linked to, and perhaps participate in, the cell cycle oscillator previously described for cleaving eggs of Xenopus laevis (Hara, K., P. Tydeman, and M. Kirschner, 1980, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 77:462-466).


1990 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 333-340
Author(s):  
J C Lacal

Microinjection of p21Ha-ras proteins into Xenopus laevis oocytes induces a rapid increase of 1,2-diacylglycerol (DAG) levels. The observed alterations in DAG levels were consistent with the ability of the protein to induce maturation, measured by germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD). Both the increase in DAG levels and GVBD activity were dependent on the ability of the proteins to undergo membrane translocation. Alterations of DAG levels or GVBD activity did not correlate with changes in the levels of inositol phosphates. However, at minimal doses sufficient to achieve maximal biological response, a biphasic increase in the amounts of phosphocholine and CDP-choline was observed. The first burst of phosphocholine and CDP-choline preceded the increase in DAG levels. The second peak paralleled the appearance of DAG. Choline kinase activity was also increased in oocyte extracts after p21ras microinjection. These results suggest that both the synthesis and degradation of phosphatidylcholine are activated after microinjection of ras proteins into Xenopus oocytes, resulting in a net production of DAG.


1985 ◽  
Vol 100 (5) ◽  
pp. 1637-1640 ◽  
Author(s):  
R A Sorensen ◽  
M S Cyert ◽  
R A Pedersen

Cytoplasmic extracts of meiotically mature mouse oocytes were injected into immature Xenopus laevis oocytes, which underwent germinal vesicle breakdown within 2 h. Germinal vesicle breakdown was not inhibited by incubation of the Xenopus oocytes in cycloheximide (20 micrograms/ml). Identically prepared extracts of meiotically immature mouse oocytes, arrested at the germinal vesicle stage by dibutyryl cyclic AMP (100 micrograms/ml), did not induce germinal vesicle breakdown in Xenopus oocytes. The results show that maturation-promoting factor activity appears during the course of oocyte maturation in the mouse.


1992 ◽  
Vol 263 (4) ◽  
pp. C896-C900 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. E. Durieux ◽  
M. N. Salafranca ◽  
K. R. Lynch ◽  
J. R. Moorman

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) induces a Ca(2+)-activated Cl- current in defolliculated Xenopus laevis oocytes. The response appears mediated by a specific membrane receptor, because no current is induced when related compounds [phosphatidic acid (PA), lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC), and lysophosphatidylserine (LPS)] are applied extracellularly or when LPA is injected intracellularly. Incubation in pertussis toxin prevents the response. The response is mediated by a Ca(2+)-activated Cl- current because 1) it is abolished by intracellular ethylene glycol-bis(beta-aminoethyl ether)-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid (EGTA; 5 mM) but not affected by changes in extracellular Ca2+ concentration and 2) the reversal potential becomes more positive at lower Cl- concentrations. Suramin (2 mM) blocks the LPA-induced current, but PA, LPS, LPC, and the platelet-activating factor antagonist WEB-2086 do not. The response is dose dependent for LPA concentrations from 10(-8) to 10(-3) M. Incubation of oocytes in LPA does not induce germinal vesicle breakdown. These findings suggest that this novel oocyte response to LPA is mediated by a specific membrane receptor linked to a pertussis toxin-sensitive G protein.


Reproduction ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 157 (6) ◽  
pp. 501-510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zubing Cao ◽  
Tengteng Xu ◽  
Xu Tong ◽  
Dandan Zhang ◽  
Chengxue Liu ◽  
...  

HASPIN kinase-catalyzed phosphorylation of histone H3 on threonine 3 (H3T3p) directs the activity and localization of chromosomal passenger complex (CPC) and spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) to regulate chromosome condensation and segregation in both mitosis and meiosis. However, the function of HASPIN kinase in the meiotic maturation of porcine oocytes is not yet known. Here, we found that HASPIN mRNA is constantly expressed in porcine oocyte maturation and subsequent early embryo development. H3T3p is highly enriched on chromosomes at germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) stage and thereafter maintains a low level in progression through metaphase I (MI) to metaphase II (MII). Correspondingly, H3T3p was completely abolished in oocytes treated with an inhibitor of HASPIN kinase. Functionally, inhibition of HASPIN activity led to a significant reduction in the rate of oocyte meiotic maturation and the limited cumulus expansion. Additionally, HASPIN inhibition caused both spindle disorganization and chromosome misalignment in oocytes at MI and MII stage. Importantly, HASPIN inhibition severely prevented deacetylation of several highly conserved lysine (K) residues of histone H3 and H4 including H3K9, H3K14, H4K5, H4K8, H4K12 and H4K16 on the metaphase chromosomes during oocyte meiotic maturation. Taken together, these results demonstrate that HASPIN kinase regulates porcine oocyte meiotic maturation via modulating histone deacetylation.


1993 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 4197-4202
Author(s):  
A J Muslin ◽  
A M MacNicol ◽  
L T Williams

In somatic cells, the Raf-1 serine/threonine protein kinase is activated by several polypeptide growth factors. We investigated the role of Raf-1 in progesterone-induced meiotic maturation of Xenopus laevis oocytes. Raf-1 enzymatic activity and phosphorylation (reflected by a mobility shift on sodium dodecyl sulfate gels) were increased in oocytes following progesterone stimulation. The increase in Raf-1 activity was concurrent with an elevation in the activity of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase. When RNA encoding an oncogenic form of Raf-1 (v-Raf) was injected into immature oocytes, MAP kinase mobility shift, germinal vesicle breakdown, and histone H1 phosphorylation increased markedly. When RNA encoding a dominant-negative version of Raf-1 was injected, progesterone-induced oocyte maturation was blocked. When RNA encoding Xenopus mos (mosxe) was injected into oocytes, Raf-1 and MAP kinase mobility shifts were observed after several hours. Also, when antisense mosxe oligonucleotides were injected into oocytes, progesterone-induced Raf-1 and MAP kinase mobility shifts were blocked. Finally, when antisense mosxe oligonucleotides were coinjected with v-Raf RNA into oocytes, histone H1 kinase activation, germinal vesicle breakdown, and MAP kinase mobility shift occurred. These findings suggest that Raf-1 activity is required for progesterone-induced oocyte maturation and that Raf-1 is downstream of mosxe activity.


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