- When: Tuesday, April 17, 12:15 PM
- Where: Room E6519, BSPH
Calcium influx-mediated signaling is required for complete mouse egg activation
PNAS 2012, 109: 4169-4174
Miao et al. (Carmen Williams' research group website)
Lauren's comments about this paper:
"Cytosolic calcium oscillations are characteristic of the egg-to-embryo transition. It has been thought that the intracellular calcium that drives egg activation comes from the endoplasmic reticulum, but this paper looks into the necessity for calcium influx across the plasma membrane as a requirement for egg activation, in addition to a function of influx in restoring intercellular calcium stores that are depleted as a consequence of fertilization. I was interested in this paper because the experimental findings potentially provide insight into my project on post-ovulatory aging, and specifically why aged eggs commonly undergo spontaneous egg activation. The Evans lab has found that aged eggs have reduced cortical tension compared to young eggs and this decrease in membrane rigidity may allow additional calcium to enter the cell across the plasma membrane thereby initiating critical signaling pathways to activate the egg."
