Decrease in expression of maternal effect gene Mater is associated with maternal ageing in mice
Abstract
What factors in mouse oocytes are involved in the ageing-related decline in oocyte quality? The maternal effect gene Mater is involved in ageing-related oocyte quality decline in mice. Premature loss of centromere cohesion is a hallmark of ageing-related oocyte quality decline; the maternal effect gene Mater (maternal antigen that embryos require, also known as Nlrp5) is required for preimplantation embryo development beyond the 2-cell stage, and mRNA expression of Mater decreases with maternal ageing. Mater protein expression level in mature oocytes from 7 young (5-8 weeks old) to 7 old mice (41-68 weeks old) was compared by immunoblotting analysis. Wild-type and Mater-null mice were used to examine whether Mater is necessary for maintaining normal centromere cohesion by means of cytogenetic karyotyping, time-lapse confocal microscopy and immunofluorescence staining. Mater protein is decreased in mature oocytes from old versus young mice (P = 0.0022). Depletion of Mater from oocytes leads to a reduction in centromere cohesion, manifested by precocious sister chromatid separation, enlargement of sister centromere distance and misalignment of chromosomes in the metaphase plate during meiosis I and II. This study was conducted in...Continue Reading
References
Citations
Related Concepts
Related Feeds
Aging Genetics (Keystone)
This feed focuses on aging epidemiology and genetic, epigenetic, and proteomic aspects underlying aging, as well as aging- associated biomarkers. Here the latest research in this domain.