Dedicated protection for the female germ line

Skipper, Magdalena

doi:10.1038/nrg2029

Research Highlight
Published: 28 November 2006

DNA repair

Dedicated protection for the female germ line

Magdalena Skipper

Nature Reviews Genetics volume 8, page 8 (2007)Cite this article

170 Accesses
Metrics details

Access through your institution

Buy or subscribe

Since the discovery of p63 and p73, two genes that are related to the p53 tumour suppressor, researchers have been interested in how the functions of these three related genes might fit together. To investigate this problem, the authors made antibodies to a specific, so far unstudied isoform of p63 — TAp63. They found TAp63 protein was expressed specifically in mouse oocytes during the meiotic arrest. TAp63 is not required for oogenesis per se, which proceeds normally in p63 null mice. But the authors show that radiation-induced DNA damage brings about TAp63 phosphorylation and its binding to p53 DNA sites. By showing that the response of p53-deficient mice to radiation — the extent of oocyte loss — is similar to that of the wild type, the authors resolved previous controversy regarding the involvement of p53 in the germ line.

To show that TAp63 is specifically required for DNA-damage-induced oocyte death, the authors generated mice that lacked TA-isoform-specific exons in the p63 open reading frame. When irradiated, these mice are resistant to doses that kill almost all oocytes in wild type and p53-null mice.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

Purchase on SpringerLink
Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

Suh, E.-K., Yang, A., Kettenbach, A. et al. p63 protects the female germline during meiotic arrest. Nature 22 November 2006 (doi:10.1038/nature05337)
Article CAS Google Scholar

Download references

Authors