Evidence for expression of the paternal genome in the two-cell mouse embryo (original) (raw)

Nature volume 294, pages 450–451 (1981)Cite this article

Abstract

Although there is strong evidence that the paternal genome is activated at the four- to eight-cell stage of mouse embryogenesis1–12, studies to date have been restricted because of their dependence on the manifestations of gene products, such as enzyme activity and cell-surface expression, rather than on direct assay of their synthesis. _β_2-microglobulin (_β_2M), a 12,000-molecular weight (_M_r) peptide associated with several of the gene products encoded by the H_–2–_Tla complex in the mouse13–17, is synthesized by early cleavage stage embryos (J.A.S., T.M. and C.J.E., unpublished). The existence of an electrophoretic variant of _β_2M in inbred strains has recently been described18–20, and tryptic peptide mapping19 and amino acid sequencing data21 indicate that the primary sequences of these variants differ by a single amino acid, thus establishing the genetic basis for this variation. Mice heterozygous at the _β_2m locus synthesize both forms, _β_2Ma and _β_2Mb (refs 18, 20). Using direct immunoprecipitation and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, we have used this variation at the _β_2m locus to distinguish between maternal and paternal _β_2M and have now established that the synthesis of paternally derived _β_2M is first detectable at the two-cell stage. This is the earliest stage at which expression of the mammalian embryonic genome has been established22.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Pediatrics and of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, 94143, USA
    Janet A. Sawicki, Terry Magnuson & Charles J. Epstein

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  1. Janet A. Sawicki
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  2. Terry Magnuson
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  3. Charles J. Epstein
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Sawicki, J., Magnuson, T. & Epstein, C. Evidence for expression of the paternal genome in the two-cell mouse embryo.Nature 294, 450–451 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/294450a0

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