UNIPROT #

Q9CWE6

PROTEIN NAME

Oocyte-expressed protein homolog

GENE NAME

Ooep

SYNONYMS

Floped,mOEP19

SEQUENCE SIMILARITIES

Belongs to the KHDC1 family.

TISSUE SPECIFICITY

Expressed in ovaries, where it is restricted to growing oocytes, with greatest levels in fully grown oocytes.

DEVELOPMENTAL STAGE

Transcripts first detected at 15.5 dpc and peak 1 week after birth. Transcripts accumulate during oogenesis. During meiotic maturation, the vast majority of the transcripts are degraded and virtually none is detected by 2-cell stage embryogenesis. The protein however persists during preimplantation up to the blastocyst stage. At 2-cell stage, excluded from cell-cell contact regions. Continuous exclusion from these regions during preimplantation development leads to the absence of the protein from the inner cells of the morula and the inner cell mass of the blastocyst.

SUBCELLULAR LOCATION

Cytoplasm. Note=In the subcortical cytoplasm of early embryos from the 1-cell to the blastocyst stages. From the 2-cell stage, still detected in the subcortex, but excluded from cell-cell contact regions.

FUNCTION

As a member of the subcortical maternal complex (SCMC), plays an essential role for zygotes to progress beyond the first embryonic cell divisions.