A subcortical, pigment-containing structure in Xenopus eggs with contractile properties.

An accumulation of insoluble, finely granular material has been observed under the pigmented surface of Xenopus eggs by a specialized "dry fracture" technique and scanning electron microscopy. Cortical granules and pigment granules can be recognized with the techniques and can be seen to be embedded in the material. Thin sections show that the region also contains mitochondria and membranous vesicles or reticula. Yolk platelets are largely excluded from the heaviest accumulations of the material. The substance is most dense just under the cortex and grades off gradually into the more diffuse, yolk-containing network of the endoplasm. The accumulation of material is much thicker in the animal hemisphere of the egg than in the vegetal hemisphere, and the pigment embedded in it defines the pigmented area of the animal hemisphere. In the pigmented area the material excludes yolk for a thickness of 3-7+ microns from the surface. In the vegetal hemisphere there is no such accumulation and yolk platelets can be found almost touching the plasmalemma. Cortical contractions have been experimentally induced in eggs. Their relative strength correlates with the relative thickness of the finely granular, subcortical material. During contraction the material accumulates to much greater thicknesses, excluding yolk from thicknesses of 15-30+ microns from the surface. The contracting entity is, or is in, the finely granular material. Injection of cytochalasins into the eggs inhibits cleavage furrow operation but does not inhibit the induced cortical contractions. The thus do not seem to be dependent on actin microfilamentogenesis as is the operation of the contractile ring of the cleavage furrow. The differential sensitivity to cytochalasins of the contractile ring and the system responding in the induced cortical contractions, suggests a two-component system for cortical contractions in the egg. A model is presented which accommodates the available data.