10月1日，《实验动物学杂志―生态遗传学和生理学》发表了中国科学院水生生物研究所桂建芳研究员主持的实验室关于纺锤素(spindlin)在银鲫卵子发生、卵母细胞成熟和受精过程中的动态分布和功能作用的研究论文，并在其特写(FEATURES)栏目中重点评述了这一发现。
该杂志在特写栏目评述说：“成熟卵母细胞贮备有驱动胚胎发育早期阶段的母源效应因子。此前的几个研究曾建议纺锤素是一个这样的因子，孙等用银鲫作为模型描述了其参与卵胚转换的特征(pp461-473)。他们用抗体评价了银鲫纺锤素的卵巢表达，观察了该蛋白在初级卵母细胞核仁中的特异定位。随着卵母细胞成熟，纺锤素标记的核仁数由2-10个剧烈地增加到多达1000个；随着卵黄发生开始，纺锤素快速地散布到整个核质中；最后在成熟卵母细胞中与纺锤体纤维共定位。受精后，纺锤素水平迅速下降，到8细胞期检测不到该蛋白。它似乎在早期胚胎发生中起了重要作用，且注入有特异抗体的受精卵在纺锤体组装，染色体分离和卵裂中表现有致命的缺陷。这些数据共同表明，纺锤素是一个真正的母源效应因子，在随着受精即刻到来的事件中起了主要作用”。
该研究得到国家基础研究973计划、国家重点基金和国家大宗淡水鱼类产业技术体系等项目的资助，主要由博士研究生孙敏等完成。
推荐英文原文：
Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A: Ecological Genetics and Physiology DOI: 10.1002/jez.618
Dynamic distribution of spindlin in nucleoli, nucleoplasm and spindle from primary oocytes to mature eggs and its critical function for oocyte-to-embryo transition in gibel carp
Min Sun, Zhi Li, Jian-Fang Gui
Spindlin (Spin) was thought as a maternal-effect factor associated with meiotic spindle. Its role for the oocyte-to-embryo transition was suggested in mouse, but its direct evidence for the function had been not obtained in other vertebrates. In this study, we used the CagSpin-specific antibody to investigate CagSpin expression pattern and distribution during oogenesis of gibel carp (Carassius auratus gibelio). First, the oocyte-specific expression pattern and dynamic distribution was revealed in nucleoli, nucleoplasm, and spindle from primary oocytes to mature eggs by immunofluorescence localization. In primary oocytes and growth stage oocytes, CagSpin accumulates in nucleoli in increasing numbers along with the oocyte growth, and its disassembly occurs in vitellogenic oocytes, which implicates that CagSpin may be a major component of a large number of nucleoli in fish growth oocytes. Then, co-localization of CagSpin and β-tubulin was revealed in meiotic spindle of mature egg, indicating that CagSpin is one spindle-associated factor. Moreover, microinjection of CagSpin-specific antibody into the fertilized eggs blocked the first cleavage, and found that the CagSpin depletion resulted in spindle assembly disturbance. Thereby, our study provided the first direct evidence for the critical oocyte-to-embryo transition function of Spin in vertebrates, and confirmed that Spin is one important maternal-effect factor that participates in oocyte growth, oocyte maturation, and oocyte-to-embryo transition.
