Abstract
Mammalian oocytes are arrested at meiotic prophase I. The dual-specificity phosphatase CDC25B is essential for cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1) activation that drives resumption of meiosis.
CDC25B reverses the inhibitory effect of the protein kinases WEE1 and MYT1 on CDK1 activation. Cdc25b(-/-) female mice are infertile because oocytes cannot activate CDK1.
To identify a role for CDC25B following resumption of meiosis, we restored CDK1 activation in Cdc25b(-/-) oocytes by inhibiting WEE1 and MYT1, or expressing EGFP-CDC25A or constitutively active EGFP-CDK1 from microinjected complementary RNAs. Forced CDK1 activation in Cdc25b(-/-) oocytes allowed resumption of meiosis, but oocytes mostly arrested at metaphase I (MI) with intact spindles.
Similarly, approximately a third of Cdc25b(-/-) oocytes with a reduced amount of CDC25B arrested in MI. MI-arrested Cdc25b(-/-) oocytes also displayed a transient decrease in CDK1 activity similar to Cdc25b(+/-) oocytes during the MI-MII transition, whereas Cdc25b(+/+) oocytes exhibited only a partial anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome activation and anaphase I entry.
Thus, CDC25B is necessary for the resumption of meiosis and the MI-MII transition.