Selective Translation of Maternal mRNA by eIF4E1B Controls Oocyte to Embryo Transition

Maternal messenger ribonucleic acids (mRNAs) are driven by a highly orchestrated scheme of recruitment to polysomes and translational activation. However, selecting and regulating individual mRNAs for the translation from a competitive pool of mRNAs are little‐known processes. This research shows that the maternal eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4e1b (Eif4e1b) expresses during the oocyte‐to‐embryo transition (OET), and maternal deletion of Eif4e1b leads to multiple defects concerning oogenesis and embryonic developmental competence during OET. The linear amplification of complementary deoxyribonucleic acid (cDNA) ends, and sequencing (LACE‐seq) is used to identify the distinct subset of mRNA and its CG‐rich binding sites within the 5′ untranslated region (UTR) targeted by eIF4E1B. The proteomics analyses indicate that eIF4E1B‐specific bound genes show stronger downregulation at the protein level, which further verify a group of proteins that plays a crucial role in oocyte maturation and embryonic developmental competence is insufficiently synthesized in Eif4e1b‐cKO oocytes during OET. Moreover, the biochemical results in vitro are combined to further confirm the maternal‐specific translation activation model assembled by eIF4E1B and 3′UTR‐associated mRNA binding proteins. The findings demonstrate the indispensability of eIF4E1B for selective translation activation in mammalian oocytes and provide a potential network regulated by eIF4E1B in OET.