PTK2b function during fertilization of the mouse oocyte
- Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66160 (United States)
- Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66160 (United States)
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, San Francisco, CA (United States)
Highlights: • PTK2b is expressed in oocytes and is activated following fertilization. • PTK2b suppression in oocytes prevents fertilization, but not parthenogenetic activation. • PTK2b suppression prevents the oocyte from fusing with or incorporating bound sperm. • PTK2b suppressed oocytes that fail to fertilize do not exhibit calcium oscillations. - Abstract: Fertilization triggers rapid changes in intracellular free calcium that serve to activate multiple signaling events critical to the initiation of successful development. Among the pathways downstream of the fertilization-induced calcium transient is the calcium-calmodulin dependent protein tyrosine kinase PTK2b or PYK2 kinase. PTK2b plays an important role in fertilization of the zebrafish oocyte and the objective of the present study was to establish whether PTK2b also functions in mammalian fertilization. PTK2b was activated during the first few hours after fertilization of the mouse oocyte during the period when anaphase resumption was underway and prior to the pronuclear stage. Suppression of PTK2b kinase activity in oocytes blocked sperm incorporation and egg activation although sperm-oocyte binding was not affected. Oocytes that failed to incorporate sperm after inhibitor treatment showed no evidence of a calcium transient and no evidence of anaphase resumption suggesting that egg activation did not occur. The results indicate that PTK2b functions during the sperm-egg fusion process or during the physical incorporation of sperm into the egg cytoplasm and is therefore critical for successful development.
- OSTI ID:
- 22416676
- Journal Information:
- Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Vol. 450, Issue 3; Other Information: Copyright (c) 2014 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0006-291X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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