pos-1 (posterior segregation) is natively repressed throughout most of oogenesis. It is de-repressed only in late stage oocytes so newly synthesized POS-1 protein can help to establish early embryonic polarity. The
pos-1 3' UTR reporter showed accumulation of the H2B::GFP product only in nuclei of the three largest oocytes of live worms. Following IFE-1 knockdown, H2B:GFP expression was nearly absent from oocytes of all stages. Quantification of GFP (Fl/t) showed a three-fold increase in
pos-1 3'UTR reporter translation by IFE-1. This indicates that when the
pos-1 mRNA became natively de-repressed in the -3, -2, and -1 oocytes, it was primarily IFE-1 that recruited the mRNA for translation.