We have characterized a molecular clone of the Xenopus laevis ets-2 gene that was isolated from an oocyte cDNA library. We have observed that injection of anti-sense oligonucleotides homologous to the ets-2 sequence into oocytes led to degradation of the mRNA and blocked hormone-induced germinal vesicle breakdown. The ets-2 product is thus required for the meiotic maturation of Xenopus oocytes. The specificity of this phenomena was demonstrated by the rescue experiment showing that GVBD could occur after injection of ets-2 mRNA into antisense-injected oocytes. Preliminary data indicate that the inhibition of GVBD is due to lack of MPF. In addition, oocytes injected with antisense oligos to Xenopus ets-I show inhibition of GVBD, indicating that the product of this gene also might be required for oocyte maturation.
