The vitelline envelope to fertilization envelope conversion in eggs of Xenopus laevis

Fertilization of the Xenopus laevis egg causes the conversion of the vitelline envelope to the fertilization envelope, a change reflected in the loss of sperm penetrability of the egg and the appearance of an electron-dense layer on the outer aspect of the fertilization envelope. As seen by one-dimensional gel electrophoresis, two components with molecular weights of 69,000 and 64,000 in the vitelline envelope were converted to 66,000 and 61,000 in the fertilization envelope. By two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, the components in the 69,000 and 64,000 molecular weight regions of the vitelline envelope were seen to shift to more basic isoelectric points upon conversion to the fertilization envelope. Peptide mapping by limited proteolysis suggested that the 69,000 and 64,000 molecular weight components shared the same polypeptide chains but the smaller glycoprotein lacked a carbohydrate side chain found on the larger species. Similar sites on each glycoprotein were affected when the vitelline envelope was converted to the fertilization envelope. No N-terminal amino acids could be identified on the envelope components, indicating that these glycoproteins have blocked N-termini. Ionophore A23187-activation of jellied eggs (but not dejellied eggs) caused the molecular weight changes in the absence of sperm. Thus, factors from the jelly and the cortical granules but not from sperm apparently are involved in the processing of the 69,000 and 64,000 molecular weight components.