Molecular Biology of the Cell Call for Nominations: MBC Editor-in-Chief

Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] --
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

MBC in Press, published online ahead of print August 3, 2004
Mol. Biol. Cell 10.1091/mbc.E04-03-0265

A more recent version of this article appeared on October 1, 2004
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow MBC Videos
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
E04-03-0265v1
15/10/4669    most recent
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Chang, P.
Right arrow Articles by King, M. L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Chang, P.
Right arrow Articles by King, M. L.

Submitted on March 29, 2004
Revised on July 15, 2004
Accepted on July 23, 2004

Localization of RNAs to the Mitochondrial Cloud in Xenopus Oocytes by Entrapment and Association with Endoplasmic Reticulum

Patrick Chang,* Jan Torres,{dagger} Raymond A. Lewis,{ddagger} Kimberly L. Mowry,{ddagger} Evelyn Houliston,*{sect} and Mary Lou King{dagger}

*UMR 7009 CNRS/UPMC, Observatoire Océanologique, 06230 Villefranche sur Mer, France; {dagger}Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136; {ddagger}Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912

Monitoring Editor: Susan Strome

The germ cell lineage in Xenopus is specified by the inheritance of germ plasm, which originates within a distinct "mitochondrial cloud" (MC) in previtellogenic oocytes. Germ plasm contains localized RNAs implicated in germ cell development including Xcat2 and Xdazl. To understand the mechanism of the "early pathway" by which RNAs localize to the MC, we applied live confocal imaging and photobleach analysis to oocytes microinjected with fluorescent Xcat2 and Xdazl RNA constructs. These RNAs dispersed evenly throughout the cytoplasm by diffusion, then became progressively immobilized and formed aggregates in the MC. Entrapment in the MC was not prevented by microtubule disruption, and did not require localization to germinal granules. Immobilized RNA constructs codistributed and showed coordinated movement with densely-packed ER concentrated in the MC revealed by DiI(16)3 labeling and immunofluorescence. Vg1RBP/Vera protein, implicated in linking "late pathway" RNAs to vegetal ER, was shown to bind specifically both wild-type Xcat2 3'UTR and localization-defective constructs. We found endogenous Vg1RBP/Vera and Vg1RBP/Vera-GFP to be largely excluded from the MC, but subsequently to codistribute with Xcat2 and ER at the vegetal cortex. We conclude that germ line RNAs localize into the MC by a diffusion/entrapment mechanism involving Vg1RBP/Vera-independent association with ER.

{sect}Corresponding author. E-mail: houliston{at}obs-vlfr.fr






Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] --
Copyright © 2004 by The American Society for Cell Biology. Terms of copyright protection, warranties, and disclaimers.