Endoplasmic reticulum reorganizations and Ca2+ signaling in maturing and fertilized oocytes of marine protostome worms:: the roles of MAPKs and MPF

Before a proper Ca2+ response is produced at fertilization, oocytes typically undergo a maturation process during which their endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is restructured. In marine protostome worms belonging to the phylum Nemertea, the ER of maturing oocytes forms numerous distinct clusters that are about 5 mum in diameter. After fertilization, mature oocytes with such aggregates generate a normal series of Ca2+ oscillations and eventually disassemble their ER clusters at around the time that the oscillations cease. Immature oocytes, however, lack prominent ER clusters and fail to exhibit repetitive Ca2+ oscillations upon insemination, collectively suggesting that cell cycle-related changes in ER structure may play a role in Ca2+ signaling. To assess the effects of meiotic regulators on the morphology of the ER and the type of Ca2+ response that is produced at fertilization, nemertean oocytes were treated with pharmacological modulators of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) or maturation-promoting factor (MPF) prior to confocal microscopic analyses. Based on such imaging studies and correlative assays of kinase activities, MAPKs of the ERK1/2 type (extracellular signal regulated kinases 1/2) do not seem to be essential for either structural reorganizations of the ER or repetitive Ca2+ signaling at fertilization. Conversely, MPF levels appear to modulate both ER structure and the capacity to produce normal Ca2+ oscillations. The significance of these findings is discussed with respect to other reports on ER structure, MPF cycling and Ca2+ signaling in oocytes of deuterostome animals.