Chicken blastodermal cells (stage X) were fused to mouse enucleated oocytes with either no or high maturation promoting factor (MPF) activity. High MPF levels always induced premature chromosome condensation (PCC) irrespective of the number of nuclei fused to a single oocyte. When a single blastodermal cell was fused to a single oocyte without MPF activity the nucleus remained intact for up to 3 h and thereafter underwent PCC. A quite different situation was observed after multiple fusion of several blastodermal cells to a single oocyte without MPF activity. Here, the transplanted nuclei remained intact even after prolonged culture but underwent extensive swelling. DNA synthesis was detected in almost all unfused blastodermal cells. However, after the fusion of several blastodermal cells to a single oocyte no DNA synthesis could be detected. These results provide further evidence that MPF is the universal cell-cycle regulator in the animal kingdom. Its activity is blocked (or neutralised) after fusion to several S-phase cells. Interestingly, our results further suggest that DNA synthesis is suppressed in meiotic cytoplasm even in the presence of an intact nuclear envelope.

Institute of Animal Production Prague Czech Republic

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