Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 107, Issue 37, Pages 16148-16153Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1004401107
Keywords
germ cell; microRNA; RNA localization; vegetal; development
Categories
Funding
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft [Pi159/9-1]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Segregation of the future germline defines a crucial cell fate decision during animal development. In Xenopus, germ cells are specified by inheritance of vegetally localized maternal determinants, including a group of specific mRNAs. Here, we show that the vegetal localization elements (LE) of Xenopus Dead end (XDE) and of several other germ-line-specific, vegetally localized transcripts mediate germ cell-specific stabilization and somatic clearance of microinjected reporter mRNA in Xenopus embryos. The part of XDE-LE critical for somatic RNA clearance exhibits homology to zebrafish nanos1 and appears to be targeted by Xenopus miR-18 for somatic mRNA clearance. Xenopus Elr-type proteins of the vegetal localization complex can alleviate somatic RNA clearance of microinjected XDE-LE and endogenous XDE mRNA. ElrB1 synergizes with Xenopus Dead end protein in the stabilization of XDE-LE mRNA. Taken together, our findings unveil a functional link of vegetal mRNA localization and the protection of germ-line mRNAs from somatic clearance.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available