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The eggshell is required for meiotic fidelity, polar-body extrusion and polarization of the C. elegans embryo

BACKGROUND: Fertilization restores the diploid state and begins the process by which the single-cell oocyte is converted into a polarized, multicellular organism. In the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, two of the earliest events following fertilization are secretion of the chitinous eggshell and c...

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Autores principales: Johnston, Wendy L, Krizus, Aldis, Dennis, James W
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2006
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1635065/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17042944
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1741-7007-4-35
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author Johnston, Wendy L
Krizus, Aldis
Dennis, James W
author_facet Johnston, Wendy L
Krizus, Aldis
Dennis, James W
author_sort Johnston, Wendy L
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Fertilization restores the diploid state and begins the process by which the single-cell oocyte is converted into a polarized, multicellular organism. In the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, two of the earliest events following fertilization are secretion of the chitinous eggshell and completion of meiosis, and in this report we demonstrate that the eggshell is essential for multiple developmental events at the one-cell stage. RESULTS: We show that the GLD (Germline differentiation abnormal)-1-regulated hexosamine pathway enzyme, glucosamine-6-phosphate N-acetyltransferase (GNA)-2, is required for synthesis of uridine diphosphate-N-acetylglucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc), the substrate for eggshell chitin synthesis by chitin synthase-1 (CHS-1). Furthermore, while chs-1(RNAi) or combined RNAi with the chitin-binding proteins, CEJ-1 and B0280.5, does not interfere with normal meiotic timing, lagging chromosomes are observed at meiosis, and polar-body extrusion fails. We also demonstrate that chitin, and either CEJ-1 or B0280.5, are essential for the osmotic/permeability barrier and for movement of the sperm pronucleus/centrosome complex to the cortex, which is associated with the initiation of polarization. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that the eggshell is required in single-cell C. elegans development, playing an essential role in multiple actin-dependent early events. Furthermore, the earliest meiotic roles precede osmotic barrier formation, indicating that the role of the eggshell is not limited to generation of the osmotic barrier.
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spelling pubmed-16350652006-11-08 The eggshell is required for meiotic fidelity, polar-body extrusion and polarization of the C. elegans embryo Johnston, Wendy L Krizus, Aldis Dennis, James W BMC Biol Research Article BACKGROUND: Fertilization restores the diploid state and begins the process by which the single-cell oocyte is converted into a polarized, multicellular organism. In the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, two of the earliest events following fertilization are secretion of the chitinous eggshell and completion of meiosis, and in this report we demonstrate that the eggshell is essential for multiple developmental events at the one-cell stage. RESULTS: We show that the GLD (Germline differentiation abnormal)-1-regulated hexosamine pathway enzyme, glucosamine-6-phosphate N-acetyltransferase (GNA)-2, is required for synthesis of uridine diphosphate-N-acetylglucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc), the substrate for eggshell chitin synthesis by chitin synthase-1 (CHS-1). Furthermore, while chs-1(RNAi) or combined RNAi with the chitin-binding proteins, CEJ-1 and B0280.5, does not interfere with normal meiotic timing, lagging chromosomes are observed at meiosis, and polar-body extrusion fails. We also demonstrate that chitin, and either CEJ-1 or B0280.5, are essential for the osmotic/permeability barrier and for movement of the sperm pronucleus/centrosome complex to the cortex, which is associated with the initiation of polarization. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that the eggshell is required in single-cell C. elegans development, playing an essential role in multiple actin-dependent early events. Furthermore, the earliest meiotic roles precede osmotic barrier formation, indicating that the role of the eggshell is not limited to generation of the osmotic barrier. BioMed Central 2006-10-16 /pmc/articles/PMC1635065/ /pubmed/17042944 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1741-7007-4-35 Text en Copyright © 2006 Johnston et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Johnston, Wendy L
Krizus, Aldis
Dennis, James W
The eggshell is required for meiotic fidelity, polar-body extrusion and polarization of the C. elegans embryo
title The eggshell is required for meiotic fidelity, polar-body extrusion and polarization of the C. elegans embryo
title_full The eggshell is required for meiotic fidelity, polar-body extrusion and polarization of the C. elegans embryo
title_fullStr The eggshell is required for meiotic fidelity, polar-body extrusion and polarization of the C. elegans embryo
title_full_unstemmed The eggshell is required for meiotic fidelity, polar-body extrusion and polarization of the C. elegans embryo
title_short The eggshell is required for meiotic fidelity, polar-body extrusion and polarization of the C. elegans embryo
title_sort eggshell is required for meiotic fidelity, polar-body extrusion and polarization of the c. elegans embryo
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1635065/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17042944
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1741-7007-4-35
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