College of Veterinary Medicine, Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi Province 712100, China.
In Vitro Cell Dev Biol Anim. 2013 Aug;49(7):548-53. doi: 10.1007/s11626-013-9638-9. Epub 2013 May 25.
Increasing evidence suggests that some Nlrp genes are crucial for oogenesis, folliculogenesis, and early embryonic development. Nlrp4e is one of seven copies of Nlrp4, which plays a putative role in the reproduction system in mice. Gene duplication is regarded as an important driving force behind the evolution of novel genes with new or altered functions. We investigated the role of Nlrp4e in oocyte and preimplantation embryos by determining its expression profile using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Nlrp4e mRNA accumulated during oogenesis. Moreover, Nlrp4e transcripts were upregulated during the two-cell stage and then declined sharply and became almost undetectable, which represents a crucial time for major embryonic genome activation in the mouse. Knockdown of Nlrp4e in fertilized eggs using RNA interference resulted in arrested development between the two- and eight-cell stages in a dose-dependent manner. However, targeted inhibition of Nlrp4e in germinal-vesicle-stage oocytes had no phenotypic effects on oocyte maturation. The above experiments were also carried out in parthenogenetic embryos to determine the effects of Nlrp4e in embryos without a paternal genome. The results of this study indicate that Nlrp4e, a maternal-zygotic-effect gene, may not be involved in oocyte maturation but may play a critical role in early embryogenesis.
越来越多的证据表明，一些 Nlrp 基因对于卵母细胞发生、卵泡发生和早期胚胎发育至关重要。Nlrp4e 是 Nlrp4 的七个拷贝之一，在小鼠的生殖系统中发挥着潜在的作用。基因复制被认为是新基因具有新功能或改变功能进化的重要驱动力。我们通过使用定量实时聚合酶链反应确定 Nlrp4e 的表达谱，来研究 Nlrp4e 在卵母细胞和着床前胚胎中的作用。Nlrp4e mRNA 在卵母细胞发生过程中积累。此外，Nlrp4e 转录本在二细胞期上调，然后急剧下降并几乎无法检测到，这是小鼠中主要胚胎基因组激活的关键时期。使用 RNA 干扰在受精卵中敲低 Nlrp4e 会导致胚胎发育在二细胞期和八细胞期之间呈剂量依赖性停滞。然而，在生发泡期卵母细胞中靶向抑制 Nlrp4e 对卵母细胞成熟没有表型影响。上述实验还在孤雌胚胎中进行，以确定 Nlrp4e 在没有父本基因组的胚胎中的作用。本研究的结果表明，Nlrp4e 作为一种母-合子效应基因，可能不参与卵母细胞成熟，但可能在早期胚胎发生中发挥关键作用。
