Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Analysis of Epididymal Protein Synthesis and Secretion
Published on: August 25, 2018
Rendezvin: An essential gene encoding independent, differentially secreted egg proteins that organize the
1Department of Molecular Biology, Cellular Biology, and Biochemistry, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
Abstract:
Preventing polyspermy during animal fertilization relies on modifications to the egg's extracellular matrix. On fertilization in sea urchins, the contents of cortical granules are secreted and rapidly assemble into the egg's extracellular vitelline layer, forming the fertilization envelope, a proteinaceous structure that protects the zygote from subsequent sperm. Here, we document rendezvin, a gene whose transcript is differentially spliced to yield proteins destined for either cortical granules or the vitelline layer. These distinctly trafficked variants reunite after cortical granule secretion at fertilization. Together, they help coordinate assembly of the functional fertilization envelope, whose proteome is now defined in full.
Related Concept Videos
Fertilization
Overview of Secretory Vesicles
Various proteins regulate the aggregation of molecules inside the secretory vesicles. Chromogranins...
Exon Recombination
Exon shuffling follows “splice frame rules.” Each exon has three reading...
Yeast Signaling
SNAREs and Membrane Fusion
SNAREs exist in pairs that symmetrically interact and catalyze the fusion of the lipid bilayers in vesicle and target organelle. v-SNARE in the vesicle membrane are single polypeptide chains that bind to a complementary t-SNARE, composed of 2...
Protein Complexes with Interchangeable Parts
The SCF ubiquitin ligase is a protein complex of five individual proteins. This complex attaches ubiquitin to other target proteins to mark them for degradation. In order to...

