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A unique arrangement for egg cell division
Date:8/13/2007

Heidelberg, 09 August 2007 - Which genes are passed on from mother to child is decided very early on during the maturation of the egg cell in the ovary. In a cell division process that is unique to egg cells, half of the chromosomes are eliminated from the egg before it is fertilised. Using a powerful microscope, researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) have now revealed how the molecular machinery functions that is responsible for chromosome reduction of egg cells in mice. In the current issue of Cell they report the assembly of this machinery, which is very different from what happens in all other cells in the body. The process is likely conserved across species and the new insights might help shed light on defects occurring in human egg cell development.

The first step in the development of an egg cell is the division of its progenitor cell, the oocyte. Unlike other cells in the body, an oocyte does not divide equally to produce two identical daughter cells. Instead, it undergoes a reducing division, which halves its genetic material to generate a single egg cell with 23 instead of the normal 46 chromosomes in humans. It is crucial that the egg has half the normal set of chromosomes, because the second half is brought in by the sperm cell during fertilisation. The molecular apparatus that makes sure that the egg ends up with the correct number of chromosomes is a bipolar spindle consisting of protein filaments, called microtubules that are part of the cells skeleton. Spindle microtubules attach themselves to the chromosomes, separate them and pull one half out of the oocyte into a small polar body that is later discarded.

Microtubule spindles are found in all dividing cells. What is special about oocytes is that they lack specialised spindle-forming organelles, called centrosomes, says Jan Ellenberg, Coordinator of the Gene Expression Unit at EMBL, all other cells contain two centrosomes from where the microtubules originate.
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Contact: Lena Raditsch
lena.raditsch@embl.de
49-622-138-78125
European Molecular Biology Laboratory
Source:Eurekalert

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