Combinational Treatment of Trichostatin A and Vitamin C Improves the Efficiency of Cloning Mice by Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) provides a unique opportunity to directly produce a cloned animal from a donor cell, and it requires the use of ...

Kindai University

Development of assisted reproductive technologies is necessary to obtain fertilized oocytes in a subfertile transgenic mouse strain. Here, we showed the application of laser-assisted drilling of the zona pellucida to in vitro fertilization of cryopreserved mouse oocytes with sperm from subfertile transgenic mice (C57BL/6N-Tg(UCP/FAD2)U8 strain). After cryopreservation by vitrification, the recovery and survival rates of the zona-drilled mouse oocytes were 97% (97/100) and 94% (91/97), respectively. In vitro fertilization of the cryopreserved zona-drilled mouse oocytes with sperm from the subfertile transgenic mice was greatly facilitated (60%, 55/91) compared to that of the cryopreserved zona-intact mouse oocytes (11%, 81/768). In vitro fertilized embryos that developed to the 2-cell stage were again cryopreserved by vitrification, and after warming they were transferred into recipient females. Subsequently, six viable offspring were delivered, and all were confirmed to be transgenic mice. These results indicate that laser-assisted zona drilling of oocytes combined with cryopreservation by vitrification may be a useful approach for large-scale production of in vitro fertilized embryos for managing transgenic mouse strains with reproductive disabilities such as subfertile sperm.

Application of laser-assisted zona drilling to in vitro fertilization of cryopreserved mouse oocytes with spermatozoa from a subfertile transgenic mouse.

Here, we showed that the Clock gene was important for reproductive performance in mice. We compared outcomes from the four possible mating combinations between wild-type mice (WT) and mice homozygous for the Clock delta-19 mutation (CL). We found that the only significant differences were between the WT♂ × WT♀ and CL♂ × CL♀ mating groups; these groups differed with regard to elongation of the pregnancy period (19.3 vs. 20.5 days, respectively, P < 0.05) and the number of newborn pups (13.4 ± 0.8 vs. 8.6 ± 1.5, respectively, P < 0.05). Because CL dams impregnated by male CLs exhibited normal continuous increases in body weight during the entire gestation period and did not show any signs of spontaneous abortion from mid to late gestation, we reasoned that some embryos were lost before or at the time of implantation. Immediately before implantation (88 hours after fertilization), neither the number of embryos collected from uteri nor the percentage of the embryos that reached the blastocyst stage differed significantly among mating groups. In contrast, immediately after implantation (160 hours after fertilization), the average number of implantation sites was significantly lower for the CL♂ × CL♀ mating group than that for the WT♂ × WT♀ mating group (7.0 vs. 13.0, P < 0.05); this decrease was accompanied by a significant lowering of the positions of implantation sites in uteri, and this lowering of the implantation sites was more severe when mothers and embryos bore more CL alleles (WT♂ × WT♀ >CL♂ × WT♀ > WT♂ × CL♀ >CL♂ × CL♀), suggesting that the Clock mutation reduced the reproduction performance of the parents by affecting the implantation capacity via such as embryos' ability to implant. 

The Clock mutation reduces reproductive performance of mice by affecting the implantation capacity: Maternal Clock mutation is not the only factor affecting implantation.

Animal cloning has been achieved in many species by transplanting differentiated cell nuclei to unfertilized oocytes. However, the low efficiencies of cloning have remained an unresolved issue. Here we find that the combination of two small molecules, trichostatin A (TSA) and vitamin C (VC), under culture condition with bovine serum albumin deionized by ion-exchange resins, dramatically improves the cloning efficiency in mice and 15% of cloned embryos develop to term by means of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). The improvement was not observed by adding the non-treated, rather than deionized, bovine serum. RNA-seq analyses of SCNT embryos at the two-cell stage revealed that the treatment with TSA and VC resulted in the upregulated expression of previously identified reprogramming-resistant genes. Moreover, the expression of early-embryo-specific retroelements was upregulated by the TSA and VC treatment. The enhanced gene expression was relevant to the VC-mediated reduction of histone H3 lysine 9 methylation in SCNT embryos. Our study thus shows a simply applicable method to greatly improve mouse cloning efficiency, and furthers our understanding of how somatic nuclei acquire totipotency.

Reprogramming towards totipotency is greatly facilitated by synergistic effects of small molecules.

Maternal RNA/protein degradation and zygotic genome activation (ZGA), occurring during maternal-to-zygotic transition (MZT), are the first essential events for the development of pre-implantation embryos. Previously, we have shown the importance of the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) for initiation of minor ZGA at the 1-cell stage of mouse embryos. However, little is known about the mechanism of involvement of the UPS-degraded maternal proteins in ZGA. In this study, we investigated the effect of inhibiting maternal protein degradation by the reversible proteasome inhibitor, MG132, on post-implantation development and ZGA regulation during early cleavage stages. Our study revealed that zygotic transcription by RNA polymerase II (Pol II) at the 1-cell stage was delayed and the full-term development was affected by transient proteasome inhibition during 1 to 9 h post-insemination (hpi). Furthermore, we found that the transient inhibition of proteasome activity at the 2-cell stage delayed the onset of transcription of some major ZGA genes. These results support the model hypothesizing the requirement of sequential degradation of maternal proteins by UPS for the proper onset of ZGA and normal progression of MZT in early mouse embryos.

Ubiquitin-proteasome system modulates zygotic genome activation in early mouse embryos and influences full-term development.

Antioxidant mechanisms to adequately moderate levels of endogenous reactive oxygen species (ROS) are important for oocytes and embryos to obtain and maintain developmental competence, respectively. Immediately after fertilization, ROS levels in zygotes are elevated but the antioxidant mechanisms during the maternal-to-zygotic transition (MZT) are not well understood. First, we identified peroxiredoxin 1 (PRDX1) and PRDX2 by proteomics analysis as two of the most abundant endogenous antioxidant enzymes eliminating hydrogen peroxide (HO). We here report the cellular localization of hyperoxidized PRDX and its involvement in the antioxidant mechanisms of freshly fertilized oocytes. Treatment of zygotes at the pronuclear stage with HO enhanced pronuclear localization of hyperoxidized PRDX in zygotes and concurrently impaired the generation of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) on the male genome, which is an epigenetic reprogramming event that occurs at the pronuclear stage. Thus, our results suggest that endogenous PRDX is involved in antioxidant mechanisms and epigenetic reprogramming during MZT.

Masayuki Anzai

Division of Biological Science,
Graduate School of Biology-Oriented Science and Technology,
Institute of Advanced Technology,
Division of Biological Science, Graduate School of Biology-Oriented Science and Technology

Kindai University

Combinational Treatment of Trichostatin A and Vitamin C Improves the Efficiency of Cloning Mice by Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer

Masayuki Anzai

.css-o250i3{font-size:18px;font-family:Open Sans,sans-serif;line-height:21.6px;}Division of Biological Science,Graduate School of Biology-Oriented Science and Technology,Institute of Advanced Technology,Division of Biological Science, Graduate School of Biology-Oriented Science and Technology

Kindai University

Combinational Treatment of Trichostatin A and Vitamin C Improves the Efficiency of Cloning Mice by Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer

Division of Biological Science,
Graduate School of Biology-Oriented Science and Technology,
Institute of Advanced Technology,
Division of Biological Science, Graduate School of Biology-Oriented Science and Technology