Reconstitution of intracellular calcium signaling in xenopus egg extracts

Abstract

Generation of calcium signal in the cytoplasm of fertilized or parthenogenetically activated eggs has been extensively studied in the intact eggs of several biological species. Calcium transient was found to elicit a plethora of biochemical and cellular events in these cells. Remarkably, intracellular calcium signaling can also be reconstituted in cell-free environment. In this chapter, we describe the methods that allow reconstitution, detection, and quantification of the calcium signal in cell-free extracts of Xenopus oocytes and eggs.