Fatty acyl-CoA synthetase and meiotic cell cycle regulation

【摘要】：正Maternal factors play important roles during early animal development.One of the major functions of maternal factors is to regulate meiotic cell cycle during oogenesis.We report here a maternal gene Xacsl, whose mRNA is tightly localized in the vegetal cortex of Xenopus oocytes.Xacsl is a putative long chain fatty acyl-CoA synthetase,whose major products may include palmitoyl-CoA,myristoyl-CoA and oleoyl-CoA.Depletion of Xacsl mRNA by antisense oligos blocks the first cell cleavage of fertilized eggs, suggesting that Xacsl is essential for cell cycle progression.The blockage may be resulted from abnormal acceleration of G2/M transition during Xenopus meiosis,which was observed by the depletion.The acceleration can be rescued by co-injection of in vitro transcribed Xacsl mRNAs,suggesting the enzyme activity of Xacsl is required for controlled release G2 oocytes into M phase.We propose that Xacsl may negatively regulate cell cycle progression during the meiosis in Xenopus.