Stowers Institute's Hawley Lab identifies factors responsible for restart of mei...(vates Polo. It takes the oocyte se...)

It takes the oocyte several days to build-up enough Polo kinase to properly restart meiosis, and the newly made Polo must remain inactive until a proper level has been reached. Matrimony serves exactly this function by inhibiting Polo kinase. However, at the proper point in oocyte development, Matrimony is destroyed releasing a sudden surge of active Polo kinase. It is this precisely timed release of active Polo kinase that restarts meiosis.

Matrimony is the first known protein inhibitor of Polo kinase, explains R. Scott Hawley, Ph.D., Investigator, and senior author on the paper. The excess of Matrimony prior to the time of normal meiotic restart keeps Polo inactive. However, the destruction of Matrimony at the appropriate time releases active Polo, permitting a properly controlled restart of meiotic progression.

The long-term implications of this work for human health and biology lie in a better understanding of how eggs are matured and released, knowledge that will have profound implications for treating infertility. Additionally, Polo kinase is strongly expressed in many types of tumor cells, so identifying a specific inhibitor for this protein may aid in the development of improved drugs for treating cancer.

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