Disease relevance of Figla

• Female mice lacking FIGalpha are unable to form primordial follicles which results in massive depletion of oocytes and sterility [1].

High impact information on Figla

• FIGalpha, a germ cell-specific transcription factor required for ovarian follicle formation [2].
• Mouse lines lacking FIGalpha were established by targeted mutagenesis in embryonic stem cells [2].
• FIGalpha, a transcription factor implicated in postnatal oocyte-specific gene expression, is detected as early as embryonic day 13 [2].
• The presence of the ubiquitous transcription factor E12 in the complex was used to identify a novel basic helix-loop-helix protein, FIGalpha (Factor In the Germline alpha) whose expression was limited to oocytes within the ovary [3].
• FIGalpha, a germ cell specific transcription factor involved in the coordinate expression of the zona pellucida genes [3].

Biological context of Figla

• The ability of FIGalpha to transactivate reporter genes coupled to each of the three mouse zona promoters in heterologous 10T(1/2) embryonic fibroblasts suggests a role in coordinating the expression of the three zona pellucida genes during oogenesis [3].
• Using the published mouse Figla sequence, BLAST searches identified a human chromosome 2 BAC clone with high sequence identity [4].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Figla

• Using PCR primers derived from this clone, amplicons derived from ovarian follicles and mature oocytes revealed 100% identity with the appropriate human BAC clone, the expected homology with the mouse Figla gene sequence, and homology on translation with the FIGalpha protein identified in the Japanese rice fish, medaka (Oryzias latipes) [4].

References