title: Autophagy is essential for preimplantation development of mouse embryos.
abstract: After fertilization, maternal proteins in oocytes are degraded and new proteins encoded by the zygotic genome are synthesized. We found that autophagy, a process for the degradation of cytoplasmic constituents in the lysosome, plays a critical role during this period. Autophagy was triggered by fertilization and up-regulated in early mouse embryos. Autophagy-defective oocytes derived from oocyte-specific Atg5 (autophagy-related 5) knockout mice failed to develop beyond the four- and eight-cell stages if they were fertilized by Atg5-null sperm, but could develop if they were fertilized by wild-type sperm. Protein synthesis rates were reduced in the autophagy-null embryos. Thus, autophagic degradation within early embryos is essential for preimplantation development in mammals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8519, Japan.
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsukamoto
authors.forename: Akiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kuma
authors.forename: Mirei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.forename: Chieko
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kishi
authors.forename: Akitsugu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Noboru
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mizushima
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001343:Autophagy; D000071187:Autophagy-Related Protein 5; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000502:physiology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D047108:Embryonic Development; D005260:Female; D005306:Fertilization; D008247:Lysosomes / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D009865:Oocytes / Q000502:physiology; D010312:Parthenogenesis; D010588:Phagosomes / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011247:Pregnancy; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D011506:Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C495773:Atg5 protein, mouse; D000071187:Autophagy-Related Protein 5; C480860:Map1lc3b protein, mouse; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D011506:Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins