NCBI Summary:
This gene encodes a protein which interacts with clathrin and adaptor-related protein complex 2, alpha 1 subunit. The protein is found in a brain-derived clathrin-coated vesicle fraction and localizes to the peri-Golgi region and the cell periphery. The protein is thought to be involved in clathrin-mediated endocytosis. Alternate splicing of this gene results in multiple transcript variants encoding different isoforms. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]
General function
Cytoskeleton organization
Comment
Cellular localization
Cytoskeleton
Comment
Ovarian function
Oocyte maturation
Comment
Epsin2 promotes polarity establishment and meiotic division through activating Cdc42 in mouse oocyte. Li L et al. (2016) Epsins are a conserved family of endocytic adaptors essential for diverse biological events. However, its role in oocytes remains completely unknown. Here, we report that specific depletion of Epsin2 in mouse oocytes significantly disrupts meiotic progression. Confocal microscopy reveals that Epsin2 knockdown results in the failure of actin cap formation and polar body extrusion during meiosis, indicative of the importance of Epsin2 in polarity establishment and cytokinesis. In addition, spindle defects and chromosome misalignment are readily observed in oocytes depleted of Epsin2. Moreover, we find that Epsin2 knockdown markedly decreases the activity of Cdc42 in oocytes and importantly, that the dominant-positive mutant of Cdc42 (Cdc42Q61L) is capable of partially rescuing the deficient phenotypes of Epsin2-knockdown oocytes. Together, our data identify Epsin2 as a novel player in regulating oocyte maturation, and demonstrate that Epsin2 promotes polarity establishment and meiotic division via activating Cdc42.//////////////////