Exploring the molecular processes regulating maternal mRNA stabilization and decay after fertilization.

受精后新生命的开始是生物学中最基本但最不了解的事件之一。它是由两个高度特化的细胞（精子和卵母细胞）融合形成一个全能细胞，整个生物体就是从这个全能细胞衍生出来的。值得注意的是，从卵母细胞到胚胎（OET）的转变发生在没有基因转录的情况下，并且完全由卵母细胞中存在的信息驱动。虽然发育过程需要激活和随后去除这些母体mRNA，但其精确控制的分子机制在很大程度上是未知的。本项目旨在通过鉴定a）在OET和早期胚胎发生中受共同母体调控控制的基因子集，B）母体mRNA上的顺式调控基序，以及c）负责mRNA稳定性和衰变的反式作用因子（蛋白质和RNA），确定调节脊椎动物受精后母体mRNA稳定性和衰变的转录后基因调控网络。这些发现不仅将为普遍的发育转变提供基本的见解，而且将揭示转录后基因调控的一般原则，这些原则是生育能力的基础，以及与细胞重编程和致癌有关的过程。

The beginning of new life upon fertilization is among the most fundamental yet least understood events in biology. It is initiated by the fusion of two highly specialized cells, sperm and oocyte, to form a single totipotent cell from which the entire organism is derived. Remarkably, the transition from oocyte to embryo (OET) occurs in the absence of gene transcription, and is driven exclusively by information present in the oocyte. Although developmental progression requires both the activation and subsequent removal of these maternal mRNAs, the molecular mechanisms underlying their precise control are largely unknown. This project aims to identify the post-transcriptional gene regulatory network that is modulating maternal mRNA stability and decay upon fertilization in vertebrates by identifying a) subsets of genes under common maternal regulatory control at the OET and early embryogenesis, b) the cis-regulatory motifs on maternal mRNAs, and c) the trans-acting factors (proteins and RNAs) responsible for mRNA stability and decay. These findings will not only provide fundamental insights into a universal developmental transition, but will uncover general principles of post-transcriptional gene regulation that underlie fertility, as well as processes implicated in cellular reprogramming and carcinogenesis.