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Melatonin mediates stress defense and improves development competence of bovine oocytes

ABSTRACT: Oocyte quality, which is directly related to reprogramming competence, is a major important limiting factor in animal cloning efficiency. Compared with oocytes matured in vivo, in vitro matured (IVM) oocytes exhibit lower oocyte quality and reprogramming competence primarily because of their higher levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In this study, we investigate whether supplementing the oocyte maturation medium with melatonin, a free radical scavenger, could improve oocyte quality and reprogramming competence. We found that 10−9 M melatonin effectively alleviated oxidative stress, markedly decreased early apoptosis levels, recovered the integrity of mitochondria, ameliorated the spindle assembly and chromosome alignment in oocytes, and significantly promoted subsequent cloned embryo development in vitro. We also analyzed the effects of melatonin on epigenetic modifications in bovine oocytes. Melatonin increased the global H3K9 acetylation levels, reduced the H3K9 methylation levels, and minimally affected DNA methylation and hydroxymethylation. Genome-wide expression analysis of genes affected by melatonin during oocyte maturation was conducted by high-throughput scRNA sequencing. We found that several important genes altered by melatonin were involved in oocyte stress defense. These genes included GSTP1, mitochondrial DNA polymerase POLG, mitochondrial ATP synthase ATP5E, centriole-enriched gene CEP295, spindle assembly-related gene TCTP, cytoprotection, and anti-apoptosis-related gene HSP27. Our results indicated critical roles of melatonin during bovine oocyte maturation and development.

ORGANISM(S): Bos taurus

PROVIDER: GSE122738 | GEO | 2018/11/21

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:The present study was undertaken to discover molecular markers in bovine cumulus cells predictive of oocyte competence and elucidate their functional significance. Differences in RNA transcript abundance in cumulus cells harvested from oocytes of adult versus prepubertal animals (model of poor oocyte quality) were identified by microarray analysis. Four genes of interest encoding for the lysosomal cysteine proteinases cathepsin B, S, K and Z and displaying greater transcript abundance in cumulus cells surrounding oocytes harvested from prepubertal animals were chosen for further investigation. Greater mRNA abundance for such genes in cumulus cells of prepubertal oocytes was confirmed by real time RT-PCR. Elevated transcript abundance for cathepsins B, S and Z was also observed in cumulus cells surrounding adult metaphase II oocytes that developed to the blastocyst stage at a low percentage following parthenogenetic activation, versus those that developed at a high percentage. Functional significance of cumulus cell cathepsin expression to oocyte competence was confirmed by treatment of cumulus oocyte complexes during in vitro oocyte maturation with a cell permeable cysteine proteinase (cathepsin) inhibitor. Inhibitor treatment decreased apoptotic nuclei in the cumulus layer and enhanced development of parthenogenetically activated and in vitro fertilized adult oocytes to the blastocyst stage. Stimulatory effects of inhibitor treatment during meiotic maturation on subsequent embryonic development were not observed when oocytes were matured in the absence of cumulus cells. Results support a functional role for cumulus cell cathepsins in compromised oocyte competence and suggest that cumulus cell cathepsin mRNA abundance may be predictive of oocyte quality. Keywords: Bovine, microarray, cDNA, cumulus cells Differences in RNA transcript abundance in cumulus cells harvested from oocytes of adult versus prepubertal animals (model of poor oocyte quality) were identified by microarray analysis. Total RNA from pools of cumulus cells (n = 4) collected from adult and prepubertal animals for microarray experiments was amplified. Two color microarray experiments were conducted using a bovine cDNA array containing expressed sequence tags (ESTs) representing approximately 15200 unique genes. Hybridizations were performed on duplicate slides (prepubertal versus adult) and incorporated a dye swap. The total number of slides used is eight.