Developmental Regulation of Xenopus 5S RNA Genes

Abstract

The problem of how differentiated cells stably maintain specific patterns of gene expression is a central theme in developmental biology. Moreover, mechanisms of establishing this control must exist whereby genes required for differentiated phenotypes are selected for transcription and others are stably inactivated. We are utilizing the 5S RNA gene system in Xenopus as a model for understanding developmental control at the transcriptional level of gene expression. This regulation encompasses the activation of oocyte 5S RNA genes throughout oogenesis, their subsequent inactivation during embryogenesis, and the maintenance of this repressed state in somatic cells when somatic 5S RNA genes continue to be expressed.