TY - JOUR
T1 - Organization of cytokeratin cytoskeleton and germ plasm in the vegetal cortex of Xenopus laevis oocytes depends on coding and non-coding RNAs
T2 - Three-dimensional and ultrastructural analysis
AU - Kloc, Malgorzata
AU - Bilinski, Szczepan
AU - Dougherty, Matthew T.
N1 - Funding Information:
The National Center for Macromolecular Imaging was supported by National Center for Research Resources/NIH grant P41-RR-02250. EM analysis was supported by grant CA 16672 for the MDACC electron microscopy core facility. The authors would like to thank Ms. Elzbieta Kisiel and Mr. Kenneth Dunner Jr. for superb electron microscopy work.
PY - 2007/5/1
Y1 - 2007/5/1
N2 - Recent studies discovered a novel structural role of RNA in maintaining the integrity of the mitotic spindle and cellular cytoskeleton. In Xenopus laevis, non-coding Xlsirts and coding VegT RNAs play a structural role in anchoring localized RNAs, maintaining the organization of the cytokeratin cytoskeleton and germinal granules in the oocyte vegetal cortex and in subsequent development of the germline in the embryo. We studied the ultrastructural effects of antisense oligonucleotide driven ablation of Xlsirts and VegT RNAs on the organization of the cytokeratin, germ plasm and other components of the vegetal cortex. We developed a novel method to immunolabel and visualize cytokeratin at the electron microscopy level, which allowed us to reconstruct the ultrastructural organization of the cytokeratin network relative to the components of the vegetal cortex in Xenopus oocytes. The removal of Xlsirts and VegT RNAs not only disrupts the cytokeratin cytoskeleton but also has a profound transcript-specific effect on the anchoring and distribution of germ plasm islands and their germinal granules and the arrangement of yolk platelets within the vegetal cortex. We suggest that the cytokeratin cytoskeleton plays a role in anchoring of germ plasm islands within the vegetal cortex and germinal granules within the germ plasm islands.
AB - Recent studies discovered a novel structural role of RNA in maintaining the integrity of the mitotic spindle and cellular cytoskeleton. In Xenopus laevis, non-coding Xlsirts and coding VegT RNAs play a structural role in anchoring localized RNAs, maintaining the organization of the cytokeratin cytoskeleton and germinal granules in the oocyte vegetal cortex and in subsequent development of the germline in the embryo. We studied the ultrastructural effects of antisense oligonucleotide driven ablation of Xlsirts and VegT RNAs on the organization of the cytokeratin, germ plasm and other components of the vegetal cortex. We developed a novel method to immunolabel and visualize cytokeratin at the electron microscopy level, which allowed us to reconstruct the ultrastructural organization of the cytokeratin network relative to the components of the vegetal cortex in Xenopus oocytes. The removal of Xlsirts and VegT RNAs not only disrupts the cytokeratin cytoskeleton but also has a profound transcript-specific effect on the anchoring and distribution of germ plasm islands and their germinal granules and the arrangement of yolk platelets within the vegetal cortex. We suggest that the cytokeratin cytoskeleton plays a role in anchoring of germ plasm islands within the vegetal cortex and germinal granules within the germ plasm islands.
KW - Cytokeratin
KW - Germ plasm
KW - Localized RNA
KW - Structural RNA
KW - Xenopus
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=34247117836&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=34247117836&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.yexcr.2007.02.018
DO - 10.1016/j.yexcr.2007.02.018
M3 - Article
C2 - 17376434
AN - SCOPUS:34247117836
SN - 0014-4827
VL - 313
SP - 1639
EP - 1651
JO - Experimental Cell Research
JF - Experimental Cell Research
IS - 8
ER -