A Live Look Inside Oocytes

The researchers labeled the actin protein of the actomyosin cortex (left, green staining) and the myoplasm (right, blue staining) to visualize their movement after the oocyte’s fertilization. As the actomyosin cortex moves in the lower region of the egg, it mechanically interacts with the myoplasm, causing it to buckle. The buckles eventually resolve into the contraction pole. Credit: © Caballero-Mancebo et al./Nature Physics