Becker's World of the Cell 9th Edition by Lewis Kleinsmith, Jeff Hardin, Gregory Paul Bertoni

Exercise 9

Scrambled Eggs. Unfertilized starfish eggs can be induced to produce foreign proteins either by injecting them with mRNA encoding the protein of choice or they can be directly injected with purified molecules. What do you predict would happen in the following cases, and why
(a)"Caged calcium," a combination of Ca 2+ ions and a chelator, is injected into an egg. A flash of light is then used to induce the chelator to release its Ca 2+ in a small region of the egg.
(b)mRNA for IP 3 receptors that do not allow Ca 2+ release is injected, and then the egg is fertilized.
(c)Fluo3, a molecule that fluoresces in response to elevated Ca 2+ levels, is injected into normal eggs, which are then fertilized.