In the transcriptionally inert maturing oocyte and early embryo, control of gene expression is largely mediated by regulated changes in translational activity of maternal mRNAs. Some mRNAs are activated in response to poly(A) tail lengthening; in other cases activation results from de-repression of the inactive or masked mRNA. The 3′ UTR cis-acting elements that direct these changes are defined, principally in Xenopus and mouse, and the study of their trans-acting binding factors is just beginning to shed light on the mechanism and regulation of cytoplasmic polyadenylation and translational masking. In the marine invertebrate, Spisula solidissima, the timing of activation of three abundant mRNAs (encoding cyclin A and B and the small subunit of ribonucleotide reductase, RR) in fertilized oocytes correlates with their cytoplasmic polyadenylation. However, in vitro, mRNA-specific unmasking occurs in the absence of polyadenylation. In Walker et al. (in this issue) we showed that p82, a protein defined as selectively binding the 3′ UTR masking elements, is a homolog of Xenopus CPEB (cytoplasmic polyadenylation element binding protein). In functional studies reported here, the elements that support polyadenylation in clam egg lysates include multiple U-rich CPE-like motifs as well as the nuclear polyadenylation signal AAUAAA. This represents the first detailed analysis of invertebrate cis-acting cytoplasmic polyadenylation signals. Polyadenylation activity correlates with p82 binding in wild-type and CPE-mutant RR 3′ UTR RNAs. Moreover, since anti-p82 antibodies specifically neutralize polyadenylation in egg lysates, we conclude that clam p82 is a functional homolog of Xenopus CPEB, and plays a positive role in polyadenylation. Anti-p82 antibodies also result in specific translational activation of masked mRNAs in oocyte lysates, lending support to our original model of clam p82 as a translational repressor. We propose therefore that clam p82/CPEB has dual functions in masking and cytoplasmic polyadenylation.

During early development gene expression is controlled principally at the translational level. Oocytes of the surf clam Spisula solidissima contain large stockpiles of maternal mRNAs that are translationally dormant or masked until meiotic maturation. Activation of the oocyte by fertilization leads to translational activation of the abundant cyclin and ribonucleotide reductase mRNAs at a time when they undergo cytoplasmic polyadenylation. In vitro unmasking assays have defined U-rich regions located approximately centrally in the 3′ UTRs of these mRNAs as translational masking elements. A clam oocyte protein of 82 kDa, p82, which selectively binds the masking elements, has been proposed to act as a translational repressor. Importantly, mRNA-specific unmasking in vitro occurs in the absence of poly(A) extension. Here we show that clam p82 is related to Xenopus CPEB, an RNA-binding protein that interacts with the U-rich cytoplasmic polyadenylation elements (CPEs) of maternal mRNAs and promotes their polyadenylation. Cloned clam p82/CPEB shows extensive homology to Xenopus CPEB and related polypeptides from mouse, goldfish, Drosophila and Caenorhabditis elegans, particularly in their RNA-binding C-terminal halves. Two short N-terminal islands of sequence, of unknown function, are common to vertebrate CPEBs and clam p82. p82 undergoes rapid phosphorylation either directly or indirectly by cdc2 kinase after fertilization in meiotically maturing clam oocytes, prior to its degradation during the first cell cleavage. Phosphorylation precedes and, according to inhibitor studies, may be required for translational activation of maternal mRNA. These data suggest that clam p82 may be a functional homolog of Xenopus CPEB.