Microinjection of suc1 transcripts delays the cell cycle clock in Patella vulgata embryos

The suc1 protein is a cell cycle regulator whose precise function remains to be elucidated. The suc1 cDNA of the mollusk Patella vulgata was cloned and sequenced. It encodes a 9 kD protein showing a strong similarity with its human counterparts and to a lesser extend with its yeast counterparts. The expression of suc1 in maturing oocytes was shown to be tightly cell cycle-regulated. The abundance of the suc1 transcripts is high in prophase- and metaphase-arrested oocytes but drops dramatically upon exit from M-phase, after fertilization. The microinjection of suc1 synthetic messengers into embryonic blastomeres delayed the cell cycle clock, thus disrupting the perfect cell cycle synchrony exhibited by the blastomeres of early Patella embryos. Interestingly, this suc1 delaying effect was significantly reversed when cyclin B messengers were co-injected with suc1 messengers. These results show that Patella embryos offer a quite valuable model to study cell cycle regulation. Moreover, they support the existence of a negative control exerted by suc1 on the cell cycle traverse in a higher eukaryote.