Two mechanisms drive pronuclear migration in mouse zygotes

et al.

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-21020-x

Two mechanisms drive pronuclear migration in mouse zygotes

et al.

School of Biochemistry

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

25 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

A new life begins with the unification of the maternal and paternal chromosomes upon fertilization. The parental chromosomes first become enclosed in two separate pronuclei near the surface of the fertilized egg. The mechanisms that then move the pronuclei inwards for their unification are only poorly understood in mammals. Here, we report two mechanisms that act in concert to unite the parental genomes in fertilized mouse eggs. The male pronucleus assembles within the fertilization cone and is rapidly moved inwards by the flattening cone. Rab11a recruits the actin nucleation factors Spire and Formin-2 into the fertilization cone, where they locally nucleate actin and further accelerate the pronucleus inwards. In parallel, a dynamic network of microtubules assembles that slowly moves the male and female pronuclei towards the cell centre in a dynein-dependent manner. Both mechanisms are partially redundant and act in concert to unite the parental pronuclei in the zygote’s centre.

Original language	English
Article number	841 (2021)
Number of pages	18
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	12
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21020-x
Publication status	Published - 5 Feb 2021

Access to Document

10.1038/s41467-021-21020-x

Full-text PDF (final published version)
This is the final published version of the article (version of record). It first appeared online via [insert publisher name] at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21020-x . Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.
Final published version, 8.73 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{ee8c988b89b14790aefa14ef3bc3546a,

title = "Two mechanisms drive pronuclear migration in mouse zygotes",

abstract = "A new life begins with the unification of the maternal and paternal chromosomes upon fertilization. The parental chromosomes first become enclosed in two separate pronuclei near the surface of the fertilized egg. The mechanisms that then move the pronuclei inwards for their unification are only poorly understood in mammals. Here, we report two mechanisms that act in concert to unite the parental genomes in fertilized mouse eggs. The male pronucleus assembles within the fertilization cone and is rapidly moved inwards by the flattening cone. Rab11a recruits the actin nucleation factors Spire and Formin-2 into the fertilization cone, where they locally nucleate actin and further accelerate the pronucleus inwards. In parallel, a dynamic network of microtubules assembles that slowly moves the male and female pronuclei towards the cell centre in a dynein-dependent manner. Both mechanisms are partially redundant and act in concert to unite the parental pronuclei in the zygote{\textquoteright}s centre.",

author = "Kathleen Scheffler and Binyam Mogessie and Melina Schuh and {et al.}",

year = "2021",

month = feb,

day = "5",

doi = "10.1038/s41467-021-21020-x",

language = "English",

volume = "12",

journal = "Nature Communications",

issn = "2041-1723",

publisher = "Springer Nature",

number = "1",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Two mechanisms drive pronuclear migration in mouse zygotes

AU - Scheffler, Kathleen

AU - Mogessie, Binyam

AU - Schuh, Melina

AU - et al.

PY - 2021/2/5

Y1 - 2021/2/5

N2 - A new life begins with the unification of the maternal and paternal chromosomes upon fertilization. The parental chromosomes first become enclosed in two separate pronuclei near the surface of the fertilized egg. The mechanisms that then move the pronuclei inwards for their unification are only poorly understood in mammals. Here, we report two mechanisms that act in concert to unite the parental genomes in fertilized mouse eggs. The male pronucleus assembles within the fertilization cone and is rapidly moved inwards by the flattening cone. Rab11a recruits the actin nucleation factors Spire and Formin-2 into the fertilization cone, where they locally nucleate actin and further accelerate the pronucleus inwards. In parallel, a dynamic network of microtubules assembles that slowly moves the male and female pronuclei towards the cell centre in a dynein-dependent manner. Both mechanisms are partially redundant and act in concert to unite the parental pronuclei in the zygote’s centre.

AB - A new life begins with the unification of the maternal and paternal chromosomes upon fertilization. The parental chromosomes first become enclosed in two separate pronuclei near the surface of the fertilized egg. The mechanisms that then move the pronuclei inwards for their unification are only poorly understood in mammals. Here, we report two mechanisms that act in concert to unite the parental genomes in fertilized mouse eggs. The male pronucleus assembles within the fertilization cone and is rapidly moved inwards by the flattening cone. Rab11a recruits the actin nucleation factors Spire and Formin-2 into the fertilization cone, where they locally nucleate actin and further accelerate the pronucleus inwards. In parallel, a dynamic network of microtubules assembles that slowly moves the male and female pronuclei towards the cell centre in a dynein-dependent manner. Both mechanisms are partially redundant and act in concert to unite the parental pronuclei in the zygote’s centre.

U2 - 10.1038/s41467-021-21020-x

DO - 10.1038/s41467-021-21020-x

M3 - Article (Academic Journal)

C2 - 33547291

VL - 12

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

SN - 2041-1723

IS - 1

M1 - 841 (2021)

ER -

Two mechanisms drive pronuclear migration in mouse zygotes

Abstract

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this