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Molecular and Cellular Biology, March 2002, p. 1317-1328, Vol. 22, No. 5
0270-7306/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/MCB.22.5.1317-1328.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

A Maternal Smad Protein Regulates Early Embryonic Apoptosis in Xenopus laevis

Yuko Miyanaga, Ingrid Torregroza, and Todd Evans*

Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461

Received 31 July 2001/ Returned for modification 7 September 2001/ Accepted 28 November 2001

We identified cDNAs encoding the Xenopus Smad proteins most closely related to mammalian Smad8, and we present a functional analysis of this activity (also referred to recently as xSmad11). Misexpression experiments indicate that xSmad8(11) regulates pathways distinct from those regulated by the closely related xSmad1. Embryos that develop from eggs depleted of xSmad8(11) mRNA fail to gastrulate; instead, at the time of gastrulation, they initiate a widespread program of apoptosis, via a CPP32/caspase 3 pathway. Embryos that avoid this fate display gastrulation defects. Activation of apoptosis is rescued by expression of xSmad8(11) but not xSmad1. Our results demonstrate an embryonic requirement for Smad8(11) activity and show that a maternally derived Smad signaling pathway is required for gastrulation and for mediating a cell survival program during early embryogenesis. We suggest that xSmad8(11) functions as part of a maternally derived mechanism shown previously by others to monitor Xenopus early embryonic cell cycles.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Developmental and Molecular Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Ave., Bronx, NY 10461. Phone: (718) 430-3506. Fax: (718) 430-8988. E-mail: tevans{at}aecom.yu.edu.

Molecular and Cellular Biology, March 2002, p. 1317-1328, Vol. 22, No. 5
0022-538X/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/MCB.22.5.1317-1328.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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