Embryo

Maternal Factors Controlling Blastomere Fragmentation in Early Mouse Embryos

Abstract
Interactions between sperm and egg are required to maintain embryo viability and cellular integrity. Differential transcriptional activities and epigenetic differences including genomic imprinting provide mechanisms by which complementary parental genome functions support early embryogenesis. We previously showed that cytofragmentation can be influenced by the specific combination of maternal and paternal genotypes. Using maternal pronuclear (PN) transfer in mouse embryos, we examined the cellular basis for the maternal genotype effect. We find that the maternal genotype effect is predominantly controlled by the maternal PN, with a lesser role played by the ooplasm. This effect of the maternal PN is sensitive to -amanitin treatment. The effect of the maternal component of embryonic genome on cytofragmentation constitutes the earliest known effect of the embryonic genome on mammalian embryo phenotype. The results also indicate that clinical procedures seeking to define or manipulate oocyte quality in humans should take into account early effects of the embryonic genome, particularly the maternal genome.

Key words: Embryo • Gene regulation

This article has been cited by other articles:

				Z. Han, N. R. Mtango, B. G. Patel, C. Sapienza, and K. E. Latham Hybrid Vigor and Transgenerational Epigenetic Effects on Early Mouse Embryo Phenotype Biol Reprod, October 1, 2008; 79(4): 638 - 648. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L.-B. Wan, H. Pan, S. Hannenhalli, Y. Cheng, J. Ma, A. Fedoriw, V. Lobanenkov, K. E. Latham, R. M. Schultz, and M. S. Bartolomei Maternal depletion of CTCF reveals multiple functions during oocyte and preimplantation embryo development Development, August 15, 2008; 135(16): 2729 - 2738. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]