DYRK2 and GSK-3 phosphorylate and promote the timely degradation of OMA-1, a key regulator of the oocyte-to-embryo transition in C. elegans

Oocyte maturation and fertilization initiates a dynamic and tightly regulated process in which a non-dividing oocyte is transformed into a rapidly dividing embryo. We have shown previously that two C. elegans CCCH zinc finger proteins, OMA-1 and OMA-2, have an essential and redundant function in oocyte maturation. Both OMA-1 and OMA-2 are expressed only in oocytes and 1-cell embryos, and need to be degraded rapidly after the first mitotic division for embryogenesis to proceed normally. We report here a distinct redundant function for OMA-1 and OMA-2 in the 1-cell embryo. Depletion of both oma-1 and oma-2 in embryos leads to embryonic lethality. We also show that OMA-1 protein is directly phosphorylated at T₂₃₉ by the DYRK kinase MBK-2, and that phosphorylation at T₂₃₉ is required both for OMA-1 function in the 1-cell embryo and its degradation after the first mitosis. OMA-1 phosphorylated at T₂₃₉ is only detected within a short developmental window of 1-cell embryos, beginning soon after the proposed activation of MBK-2. Phosphorylation at T₂₃₉ facilitates subsequent phosphorylation of OMA-1 by another kinase, GSK-3, at T₃₃₉ in vitro. Phosphorylation at both T₂₃₉ and T₃₃₉ are essential for correctly-timed OMA-1 degradation in vivo. We propose that a series of precisely-timed phosphorylation events regulates both the activity and the timing of degradation for OMA proteins, thereby allowing restricted and distinct functions of OMA-1 and OMA-2 in the maturing oocyte and 1-cell embryo, ensuring a normal oocyte-to-embryo transition in C. elegans.