Philpott C C, Ringuette M J, Dean J
Dev Biol. 1987 Jun;121(2):568-75. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(87)90192-8.
The mouse zona pellucida is composed of three sulfated glycoproteins, encoded by the oocyte genome, that have important biological functions in preimplantation development. One of the zona gene products, ZP3, functions as the sperm receptor at fertilization. Our present data demonstrate that the ZP3 gene is transcribed in oocytes where its expression is developmentally regulated. Resting primordial oocytes do not express ZP3 mRNA, but these transcripts rapidly accumulate in growing oocytes so that they represent 0.1-0.2% of the total poly(A+) RNA. As oocytes complete their growth and undergo meiotic maturation, the abundance of ZP3 transcripts falls off dramatically; ovulated eggs contain less than 15% of peak levels. The oocyte-specific accumulation of ZP3 transcripts serves as an attractive system for further studies of factors that modulate developmentally regulated genes during mammalian oogenesis.
小鼠透明带由三种硫酸化糖蛋白组成，由卵母细胞基因组编码，在植入前发育中具有重要的生物学功能。透明带基因产物之一ZP3在受精时作为精子受体发挥作用。我们目前的数据表明，ZP3基因在卵母细胞中转录，其表达受到发育调控。静止的原始卵母细胞不表达ZP3 mRNA，但这些转录本在生长中的卵母细胞中迅速积累，使其占总poly(A+) RNA的0.1-0.2%。随着卵母细胞完成生长并经历减数分裂成熟，ZP3转录本的丰度急剧下降；排卵的卵子中所含的ZP3转录本不到峰值水平的15%。ZP3转录本在卵母细胞中的特异性积累为进一步研究哺乳动物卵子发生过程中调节发育调控基因的因素提供了一个有吸引力的系统。
