Fertilization-induced deformations are controlled by the actin cortex and a mitochondria-rich subcortical layer in ascidian oocytes
Caballero Mancebo S. 2021. Fertilization-induced deformations are controlled by the actin cortex and a mitochondria-rich subcortical layer in ascidian oocytes. Institute of Science and Technology Austria.
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| Published
| English
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Corresponding author has ISTA affiliation
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ISTA Thesis
Abstract
Cytoplasmic reorganizations are essential for morphogenesis. In large cells like oocytes, these reorganizations become crucial in patterning the oocyte for later stages of embryonic development. Ascidians oocytes reorganize their cytoplasm (ooplasm) in a spectacular manner. Ooplasmic reorganization is initiated at fertilization with the contraction of the actomyosin cortex along the animal-vegetal axis of the oocyte, driving the accumulation of cortical endoplasmic reticulum (cER), maternal mRNAs associated to it and a mitochondria-rich subcortical layer – the myoplasm – in a region of the vegetal pole termed contraction pole (CP). Here we have used the species Phallusia mammillata to investigate the changes in cell shape that accompany these reorganizations and the mechanochemical mechanisms underlining CP formation.
We report that the length of the animal-vegetal (AV) axis oscillates upon fertilization: it first undergoes a cycle of fast elongation-lengthening followed by a slow expansion of mainly the vegetal pole (VP) of the cell. We show that the fast oscillation corresponds to a dynamic polarization of the actin cortex as a result of a fertilization-induced increase in cortical tension in the oocyte that triggers a rupture of the cortex at the animal pole and the establishment of vegetal-directed cortical flows. These flows are responsible for the vegetal accumulation of actin causing the VP to flatten.
We find that the slow expansion of the VP, leading to CP formation, correlates with a relaxation of the vegetal cortex and that the myoplasm plays a role in the expansion. We show that the myoplasm is a solid-like layer that buckles under compression forces arising from the contracting actin cortex at the VP. Straightening of the myoplasm when actin flows stops, facilitates the expansion of the VP and the CP. Altogether, our results present a previously unrecognized role for the myoplasm in ascidian ooplasmic segregation.
Publishing Year
Date Published
2021-07-01
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Institute of Science and Technology Austria
Acknowledged SSUs
Page
111
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IST-REx-ID
Cite this
Caballero Mancebo S. Fertilization-induced deformations are controlled by the actin cortex and a mitochondria-rich subcortical layer in ascidian oocytes. 2021. doi:10.15479/at:ista:9623
Caballero Mancebo, S. (2021). Fertilization-induced deformations are controlled by the actin cortex and a mitochondria-rich subcortical layer in ascidian oocytes. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:9623
Caballero Mancebo, Silvia. “Fertilization-Induced Deformations Are Controlled by the Actin Cortex and a Mitochondria-Rich Subcortical Layer in Ascidian Oocytes.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2021. https://doi.org/10.15479/at:ista:9623.
S. Caballero Mancebo, “Fertilization-induced deformations are controlled by the actin cortex and a mitochondria-rich subcortical layer in ascidian oocytes,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2021.
Caballero Mancebo S. 2021. Fertilization-induced deformations are controlled by the actin cortex and a mitochondria-rich subcortical layer in ascidian oocytes. Institute of Science and Technology Austria.
Caballero Mancebo, Silvia. Fertilization-Induced Deformations Are Controlled by the Actin Cortex and a Mitochondria-Rich Subcortical Layer in Ascidian Oocytes. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2021, doi:10.15479/at:ista:9623.
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