Specific changes in the pattern of protein synthesis during meiotic maturation of mammalian oocytes in vitro

High resolution two-dimensional electrophoresis has been used to examine the pattern of protein synthesis during meiotic maturation of mouse oocytes in vitro. Fluorograms of [35S]methionine-labeled oocyte proteins have revealed that meiotic progression from dictyate to metaphase II (meiotic maturation) is accompanied by marked changes in the pattern of proteins synthesized by oocytes. Virtually all of the changes observed take place subsequent to the breakdown of the oocyte's germinal vesicle, but are not dependent upon the occurrence of other morphological events, such as spindle formation or polar body emission. These changes in protein synthesis do not take place in oocytes that fail to undergo breakdown of germinal vesicles spontaneously or in oocytes arrested at the germinal vesicle stage by dibutyryl 3':5'-cyclic AMP. These data suggest that mixing of the oocyte's nucleoplasm and cytoplasm may trigger many of the changes in protein synthesis that accompany meiotic maturation of mouse oocytes in vitro.