Zif-1 translational repression defines a second, mutually exclusive OMA function in germline transcriptional repression.

ABSTRACT: Specification of primordial germ cells requires global repression of transcription. In C. elegans, primordial germ cells are generated through four rounds of asymmetric divisions, starting from the zygote P0, each producing a transcriptionally repressed germline blastomere (P1-P4). Repression in P2-P4 requires PIE-1, which is provided maternally in oocytes and segregated to all germline blastomeres. We have shown previously that OMA-1 and OMA-2 repress global transcription in P0 and P1 by sequestering TAF-4, an essential component of TFIID. Soon after the first mitotic cycle, OMA proteins undergo developmentally regulated degradation. Here, we show that OMA proteins also repress transcription in P2-P4 indirectly, through a completely different mechanism that operates in oocytes. OMA protei

SUBMITTER: Guven-Ozkan T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2947753 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature