Department of Dairy Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
BMC Genomics. 2010 Jan 11;11:23. doi: 10.1186/1471-2164-11-23.
Early embryonic loss is a large contributor to infertility in cattle. Although genetic factors are known to affect early embryonic development, the discovery of such factors has been a serious challenge. The objective of this study was to identify genes differentially expressed between blastocysts and degenerative embryos at early stages of development.
Using microarrays, genome-wide RNA expression was profiled and compared for in vitro fertilization (IVF) - derived blastocysts and embryos undergoing degenerative development up to the same time point. Surprisingly similar transcriptomic profiles were found in degenerative embryos and blastocysts. Nonetheless, we identified 67 transcripts that significantly differed between these two groups of embryos at a 15% false discovery rate, including 33 transcripts showing at least a two-fold difference. Several signaling and metabolic pathways were found to be associated with the developmental status of embryos, among which were previously known important steroid biosynthesis and cell communication pathways in early embryonic development.
This study presents the first direct and comprehensive comparison of transcriptomes between IVF blastocysts and degenerative embryos, providing important information for potential genes and pathways associated with early embryonic development.
早期胚胎死亡是导致牛不孕的一个主要因素。虽然已知遗传因素会影响早期胚胎发育，但此类因素的发现一直是一个严峻的挑战。本研究旨在鉴定在早期发育阶段，囊胚和退化胚胎之间差异表达的基因。
通过微阵列技术，对体外受精（IVF）衍生的囊胚和退化胚胎进行了全基因组 RNA 表达谱分析，并对在相同时间点进行的退化发育胚胎进行了比较。令人惊讶的是，退化胚胎和囊胚具有非常相似的转录组图谱。尽管如此，我们在这两组胚胎中鉴定出了 67 个转录本，在 15%的假发现率下差异显著，其中 33 个转录本的差异至少为两倍。一些信号和代谢途径与胚胎的发育状态有关，其中包括早期胚胎发育中已知的重要类固醇生物合成和细胞通讯途径。
本研究首次对 IVF 囊胚和退化胚胎的转录组进行了直接和全面的比较，为与早期胚胎发育相关的潜在基因和途径提供了重要信息。
