CELL-CYCLE CONTROL DURING MAMMALIAN OOGENESIS

Many disciplines have contributed to the current perspectives on the basic mechanisms of cell cycle control. Genetic and biochemical analyses of cells in organisms ranging from yeast to humans have revealed that a conserved protein serine–threonine kinase activity causes eukaryotic cells to enter the M phase. This chapter discusses the basic cell cycle control mechanisms in eukaryotes and the adaptation of these mechanisms during the development of the female germ cell. The role of p34cdc2during the developmentally expressed cell cycle transitions in mammalian oogenesis is discussed with reference to mouse and, where possible, to pertinent studies in other species. Oogenesis can be viewed as a developmental continuum punctuated by precisely regulated transitions of the meiotic cell cycle. These transitions, involving transcriptional and translational control, must be executed in a temporally coordinated manner. Oogenesis entails rapid transcription and accumulation of the transcriptional products for use during growth and differentiation as well as during subsequent embryonic development. © 1993, Academic Press Inc.