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Molecular and Cellular Biology, March 2001, p. 1662-1671, Vol. 21, No. 5
Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Iowa, Iowa
City, Iowa 52242
Received 30 August 2000/Returned for modification 11 October
2000/Accepted 7 December 2000
At the midblastula transition, the Xenopus
laevis embryonic cell cycle is remodeled from rapid
alternations between S and M phases to become the complex adult cell
cycle. Cell cycle remodeling occurs after zygotic transcription
initiates and is accompanied by terminal downregulation of maternal
cyclins A1 and B2. We report here that the disappearance of both cyclin
A1 and B2 proteins is preceded by the rapid deadenylation of their
mRNAs. A specific mechanism triggers this deadenylation. This mechanism
depends upon discrete regions of the 3' untranslated regions and
requires zygotic transcription. Together, these results strongly
suggest that zygote-dependent deadenylation of cyclin A1 and
cyclin B2 mRNAs is responsible for the downregulation of these
proteins. These studies also raise the possibility that zygotic control of maternal cyclins plays a role in establishing the adult cell cycle.
0270-7306/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/MCB.21.5.1662-1671.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Zygotic Regulation of Maternal Cyclin A1 and
B2 mRNAs

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Corresponding author. Mailing address: 1-572 BSB,
Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242. Phone: (319) 335-7501. Fax: (319) 335-7198. E-mail:
rebecca-hartley{at}uiowa.edu.
Present address: Life Sciences Group, Bio-Rad Laboratories,
Hercules, CA 94547.
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