Burlibaşa Liliana, Zărnescu Otilia, Cucu Natalia, Gavrilă Lucian
Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology Department, Faculty of Biology, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania.
Zygote. 2008 Nov;16(4):315-26. doi: 10.1017/S0967199408004863. Epub 2008 Sep 24.
Oogenesis is a critical event in the formation of female gametes, whose role in development is to transfer genomic information to the next generation. During this process, the gene expression pattern changes dramatically concomitant with genome remodelling, while genomic information is stably maintained. The aim of the present study was to investigate the chromatin architecture in newt oocytes. Using fluorescence microscopy, as well as transmission electron microscopy (TEM), immunohistochemical method and RE-ChIP assay, some peculiar aspects of chromatin and chromosome organization and evolution in crested newt oogenesis were investigated. We focussed our investigations on detection of certain epigenetic modifications (H4 hyperacetylation, H2A ubiquitinylation and cytosine methylation) at the rRNA gene (18S-5.8S-28S) promoter region. Our findings suggest that there is an involvement of some epigenetic modifications as well as of linker histone variants in chromatin architecture dynamics during crested newt oogenesis.
卵子发生是雌性配子形成过程中的一个关键事件，其在发育中的作用是将基因组信息传递给下一代。在此过程中，基因表达模式伴随着基因组重塑而发生显著变化，同时基因组信息得以稳定维持。本研究的目的是探究蝾螈卵母细胞中的染色质结构。利用荧光显微镜、透射电子显微镜（TEM）、免疫组织化学方法和重染色质免疫沉淀（RE-ChIP）分析，对东方蝾螈卵子发生过程中染色质和染色体组织及演化的一些特殊方面进行了研究。我们将研究重点集中在检测核糖体RNA基因（18S-5.8S-28S）启动子区域的某些表观遗传修饰（H4高乙酰化、H2A泛素化和胞嘧啶甲基化）。我们的研究结果表明，在东方蝾螈卵子发生过程中，一些表观遗传修饰以及连接组蛋白变体参与了染色质结构动态变化。
