Identification of plakoglobin in oocytes and early embryos of Xenopus laevis: maternal expression of a gene encoding a junctional plaque protein

Differentiation. 1992 Nov;51(3):187-94. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-0436.1992.tb00695.x.

Abstract

We have isolated a cDNA encoding the junctional plaque protein plakoglobin of Xenopus laevis and determined its amino acid sequence. Comparisons with sequences of related proteins of the same and other species revealed that in Xenopus plakoglobin and beta-catenin are two different proteins, encoded by separate genes, that both genes are expressed in embryogenesis, and that the amphibian plakoglobin is more closely related to the human plakoglobin than to beta-catenin of the same species. Using this cDNA as a probe, we also show that plakoglobin mRNA is produced and stored in Xenopus oocytes and eggs. We discuss the possibility that the maternal pool of this junctional protein contributes to the junctional structures connecting the oocyte with the follicle epithelium and to the rapid formation of desmosomes and other plaque-bearing junctions in pregastrulation embryogenesis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Base Sequence
  • Cell Adhesion Molecules / chemistry
  • Cell Adhesion Molecules / genetics*
  • Cytoskeletal Proteins / chemistry
  • Cytoskeletal Proteins / genetics*
  • Desmoplakins
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian / metabolism*
  • Gene Expression*
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Oocytes / metabolism*
  • Xenopus laevis / embryology*
  • gamma Catenin

Substances

  • Cell Adhesion Molecules
  • Cytoskeletal Proteins
  • Desmoplakins
  • gamma Catenin

Associated data

  • GENBANK/L12697
  • GENBANK/L12698
  • GENBANK/L12699
  • GENBANK/L12700
  • GENBANK/L12701
  • GENBANK/L12702
  • GENBANK/L12703
  • GENBANK/M23410
  • GENBANK/M95593
  • GENBANK/X65506
  • GENBANK/Z16406