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Emi1 and Erp1: who can stop these eggs?
1Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Pfotenhauerstrasse 108, 01307 Dresden, Germany.
Abstract:
Vertebrate eggs prevent parthenogenetic development by producing cytostatic factor (CSF), which blocks exit from metaphase of meiosis II until fertilization. CSF was never purified but recently suspected to inhibit the anaphase-promoting complex (APC), an ubiquitin ligase required for entry into anaphase. In a recent paper in Genes & Development, Schmidt et al. describe the Xenopus APC inhibitor Erp1, which seems to be the best candidate yet for the downstream effector of CSF activity.
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