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A more recent version of this article appeared on December 1, 2006
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Submitted on July 25, 2006
Revised on September 11, 2006
Accepted on September 18, 2006
Department of Molecular Biology, Cellular Biology, and Biochemistry, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912
Monitoring Editor: Marianne Bronner-Fraser
Preventing polyspermy during animal fertilization relies on modifications to the eggs extracellular matrix. On fertilization in sea urchins, the contents of cortical granules are secreted and rapidly assemble into the eggs extracellular vitelline layer, forming the fertilization envelope, a proteinaceous structure that protects the zygote from subsequent sperm. Here, we document rendezvin, a gene whose transcript is differentially spliced to yield proteins destined for either cortical granules or the vitelline layer. These distinctly trafficked variants reunite following cortical granule secretion at fertilization. Together, they help coordinate assembly of the functional fertilization envelope, whose proteome is now defined in full.
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