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Heat shock induces mini-Cajal bodies in the Xenopus germinal vesicle

Korie E. Handwerger^1,2,*, Zheng'an Wu^1,*, Christine Murphy¹ and Joseph G. Gall^1,

¹ Department of Embryology, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 115 West University Parkway, Baltimore, MD 21210, USA
² Department of Biology, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
^* These authors contributed equally to this study

Author for correspondence (e-mail: gall{at}ciwemb.edu )

Accepted 27 February 2002

Cajal bodies are evolutionarily conserved nuclear organelles that are believed to play a central role in assembly of RNA transcription and processing complexes. Although knowledge of Cajal body composition and behavior has greatly expanded in recent years, little is known about the molecules and mechanisms that lead to the formation of these organelles in the nucleus. The Xenopus oocyte nucleus or germinal vesicle is an excellent model system for the study of Cajal bodies, because it is easy to manipulate and it contains 50-100 Cajal bodies with diameters up to 10 µm. In this study we show that numerous mini-Cajal bodies (less than 2 µm in diameter) form in the germinal vesicle after oocytes recover from heat shock. The mechanism for heat shock induction of mini-Cajal bodies is independent of U7 snRNA and does not require transcription or import of newly translated proteins from the cytoplasm. We suggest that Cajal bodies originate by self-organization of preformed components, preferentially on the surface of B-snurposomes.

Key words: Cajal body, Germinal vesicle, Heat shock, Oocyte, Xenopus

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