Yamaguchi Akihiko, Yamashita Masakane, Yoshikuni Michiyasu, Hotta Yasuo, Nurse Paul, Nagahama Yoshitaka
Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, National Institute for Basic Biology, Okazaki 444, Japan.
Department of Biology, School of Science, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464, Japan.
Dev Growth Differ. 1991 Dec;33(6):625-632. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-169X.1991.00625.x.
We have taken advantage of the synchrony of meiotic prophase I in Lilium microsporocytes to investigate the presence and involvement in four stages of meiotic prophase I (leptotene, zygotene, pachytene, and diplotene) of the p34 H1 histone kinase, a component of MPF and a key participant in division control in other eukaryotes. H1 kinase activity showed a peak pattern during meiotic prophase I with the highest kinase activity at pachytene. A monoclonal antibody directed against a highly conserved region of p34 (termed the 'PSTAIR') recognized three major protein forms by immunoblotting. The highest level of the fastest-migrating form was observed at pachytene, coinciding with the highest activity of H1 kinase. Both the proteins recognized by the anti-PSTAIR antibody and H1 histone kinase activity were retained on beads conjugated with p13 , a protein known to physically associate with p34 . These observations suggest that p34 or protein(s) highly homologous to p34 is a component of Lilium H1 histone kinase and plays a role in regulating meiotic prophase I.
