Int. J. Dev. Biol. 58: 793 - 798 (2014)

https://doi.org/10.1387/ijdb.140308ho

Vol 58, Issue 10-11-12

Special Issue: Developmental Herpetology

Intracellular localizations of the Dead End protein in Xenopus primordial germ cells

Published: 2 July 2015

Ayaka Taguchi, Kenji Watanabe and Hidefumi Orii*

Department of Life Science, University of Hyogo, Kamigori, Akou-gun, Hyogo, Japan

Abstract

We investigated the intracellular localization of Xenopus Dead end protein (Dnd1) in primordial germ cells during early development by expressing the tagged protein in transgenic Xenopus embryos, with the germ plasm visualized. Dnd1 initially localized to the germ plasm in the cortex, moved to the perinuclear region together with the germ plasm after the midblastula transition, and then entered the nucleus. Using Dnd1 deletion mutants, we identified two distinct but overlapping regions of Dnd1 that were responsible for localization to either the germ plasm or nucleus. These Dnd1 regions appeared to function in primordial germ cell- and stage-specific manners.

Keywords

Dnd1, germline, germ plasm, nuage, nuclear localization signal, RNA-binding protein