Oocyte Expressed Protein Homolog (OOEP)

OOEP contain an atypical KH domain with amino acid changes at critical sites, suggesting that it may not bind RNA like canonical KH domains. Assembled during oocyte growth and was essential for zygotes to progress beyond the first embryonic cell division. Although the transcripts encoding these proteins were degraded during meiotic maturation and ovulation, the SCMC persisted in the early embryo. The SCMC, which was located in the subcortex of the egg, was excluded from regions of cell-cell contact in the cleavage-stage embryo and segregated to the outer cells of the morulae and blastocyst. Oocytes lacking Floped and/or Mater were fertilized, but the embryos did not progress beyond the cleavage stage of development, and female mice lacking Floped and/or Mater were sterile.