Affinity chromatography of a binder of 1-methyladenine, the maturation-inducing hormone for starfish oocytes

Starfish oocytes are arrested at the prophase stage of the first meiotic division in the ovary. They resume meiosis by the stimulus of 1-methyladenine (1-MeAde), the maturation-inducing hormone for starfish oocytes. Putative 1-MeAde receptors have been suggested to be present on the oocyte surface, but not yet been characterized biochemically. As reported recently (T. Toraya, T. Kida, A. Kuyama, S. Matsuda, S. Tanaka, Y. Komatsu, T. Tsurukai, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 485 (2017) 41-46), it became possible to detect unknown 1-MeAde binders of starfish oocytes by immunophotoaffinity labeling, i.e., photoaffinity labeling combined with immunochemical detection. We designed and synthesized water-soluble and insoluble polymer-bound 1-MeAde derivatives. A water-soluble polymer-bound 1-MeAde derivative, in which 1-MeAde is bound to dextran through an N⁶-substituent, triggered the germinal-vesicle breakdown toward follicle-free oocytes, dejellied oocytes, and denuded oocytes. This is consistent with the idea that putative 1-MeAde receptors are located on the cell surface of starfish oocytes. A water-insoluble polymer-bound 1-MeAde derivative, in which 1-MeAde is bound to Sepharose 4B through an N⁶-substituent, served as an effective affinity adsorbent for the partial purification of a 1-MeAde binder with M_r of 47.5 K that might be a possible candidate of the maturation-inducing hormone receptors of starfish oocytes.