Mitogen-activated protein kinase activation down-regulates a mechanism that inactivates cyclin B-cdc2 kinase in G2-arrested oocytes.

The G2 arrest of oocytes from frogs, clams, and starfish requires that preformed cyclin B-cdc2 complexes [prematuration-promoting factor (MPF)] be kept in an inactive form that is largely due to inhibitory phosphorylation of this pre-MPF. We have investigated the role of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase in the activation of this pre-MPF. The cytoplasm of both frog and starfish oocytes contains an activity that can rapidly inactivate injected MPF. When the MAP kinase of G2-arrested starfish or Xenopus oocytes was prematurely activated by microinjection of c-mos or Ste-11 delta N fusion proteins, the rate and extent of MPF inactivation was much reduced. Both effects were suppressed by expression of the specific MAP kinase phosphatase Pyst 1. These results show that MAP kinase down-regulates a mechanism that inactivates cyclin B-cdc2 kinase in Xenopus oocytes. In starfish oocytes, however, MAP kinase activation occurs only after germinal vesicle breakdown, much after MPF activation. In this case, down-regulation of the cyclin B-cdc2 inhibiting pathway is a sensitive response to hormonal stimulation that does not require MAP kinase activation.