| First Author | Liang LF | Year | 1990 |
| Journal | Mol Cell Biol | Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 4 | Pages | 1507-15 |
| PubMed ID | 1690843 | Mgi Jnum | J:10389 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:58841 | Doi | 10.1128/mcb.10.4.1507 |
| Citation | Liang LF, et al. (1990) Oocyte-specific expression of mouse Zp-2: developmental regulation of the zona pellucida genes. Mol Cell Biol 10(4):1507-15 |
| abstractText | The zona pellucida surrounds all mammalian oocytes and plays a vital role at fertilization and in early development. The genes that code for two of the mouse zona proteins (ZP2 and ZP3) represent a developmentally regulated set of genes whose expression serves as markers of mouse oocyte growth and differentiation. We previously characterized the single-copy Zp-3 gene and showed that its expression is oocyte specific and restricted to a narrow window of oocyte development. We now define the Zp-2 gene transcript and show that it is coordinately expressed with Zp-3 only during the 2-week growth phase of oogenesis that occurs prior to ovulation. Like Zp-3, the expression of Zp-2 is restricted to oocytes, and, although not detectable in resting oocytes, both ZP2 and ZP3 transcripts accumulate to become very abundant messengers in 50-microns-diameter oocytes. Ovulated eggs contain ZP2 and ZP3 transcripts which are 200 nucleotides shorter than those found in growing oocytes and have an abundance of less than 5% of the peak levels. In an attempt to understand the molecular details associated with the developmentally regulated, tissue-specific gene expression of the zona genes, the Zp-2 genetic locus has been characterized and its 5' flanking sequences have been compared with those of Zp-3. Both genes contain three short (8- to 12-base-pair) DNA sequences of 80 to 88% identity located within 250 base pairs of their transcription start sites. |
