A nuclear extract, prepared from mass-isolated germinal vesicles, retains a factor able to sustain a cytoplasmic cycle of starfish oocytes.

The germinal vesicle (GV) of starfish oocytes contains a factor which is required to drive the cytoplasmic cycle of the meiotic division. Biochemical investigation of this factor has been difficult due to the small quantities of obtainable GV materials. To overcome this, we have developed a mass-isolation procedure for the GVs of starfish oocytes, which depends on the softening of the cortex of the oocytes by cytochalasins to enable the GVs to pass through the cortex by centrifugation. From the isolated GVs, we have prepared a soluble fraction which retains the activity to induce the cytoplasmic cycle in the meiotic division of oocytes. The factor was sensitive to both heat and papain, suggesting that it is a protein.