Early transcription from the maternal genome controlling blastomere integrity in mouse two-cell-stage embryos.
Abstract
Blastomere cytofragmentation in mammalian embryos poses a significant problem in applied and clinical embryology. Mouse two-cell-stage embryos display strain-dependent differences in the rate of cytofragmentation, with a high rate observed in C3H/HeJ embryos and a lower rate observed in C57BL/6 embryos. The maternally inherited genome exerts the strongest effect on the process, with lesser effects mediated by the paternally inherited genome and the ooplasm. The effect of the maternal genome is transcription dependent and independent of the mitochondrial strain of origin. To identify molecular mechanisms that underlie cytofragmentation, we evaluated transcriptional activities of embryos possessing maternal pronuclei (mPN) of different origins. The mPN from C57BL/6 and C3H/HeJ strains directed specific transcription at the two-cell stage of mRNAs corresponding to 935 and 864 Affymetrix probe set IDs, respectively. Comparing transcriptomes of two-cell-stage embryos with different mPN revealed 64 transcribed genes with differential expression (1.4-fold or greater). Some of these genes occupy molecular pathways that may regulate cytofragmentation via a combination of effects related to apoptosis and effects on the cytoskeleton. Thes...Continue Reading
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