title: Differential expression of Axin1, Cdc25c and Cdkn2d mRNA in 2-cell stage mouse blastomeres.
abstract: There is increasing evidence to show that 2-cell stage mouse blastomeres have differing developmental properties. Additionally, it has been suggested that such a difference might be due to their distribution of mRNA and/or protein asymmetry. However, to date, the exact genes that are involved in the orientation and order of blastomere division are not known. In this study, some differentially expressed transcripts were identified. Axin1, cell division cycle 25 homolog C (Cdc25c) and cyclin-dependent inhibitor 2D (Cdkn2d) were selected for validation by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based on published data. Our real-time PCR results demonstrated that Axin1, Cdc25c and Cdkn2d genes had different levels of expression among blastomeres of the mouse 2-cell embryo i.e. the level of Axin1 mRNA was significantly higher in one blastomere when compared with the other blastomeres of the 2-cell embryo (p < 0.05). The variation in Cdc25c (p < 0.05) and Cdkn2d (p < 0.01) mRNA expression followed a similar trend to that of Axin1. In addition, the highest levels of expression of these three genes were detected in the same blastomere in the 2-cell embryo. We confirmed that there was an asymmetrical distribution pattern for Axin1, Cdc25c and Cdkn2d transcripts in 2-cell embryos. In conclusion, this study demonstrated clearly that there is embryonic asymmetry at the 2-cell stage and that these differentially expressed genes may result in differentiation in expression in embryo development.
authors: Institute of Biological Engineering, College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A & F University, Yangling, Shaanxi Province 712100, P.R. China.
authors: Jian Hong
authors: JH
authors: Sun
authors: Yong
authors: Y
authors: Zhang
authors: Bao Ying
authors: BY
authors: Yin
authors: Ji Xia
authors: JX
authors: Li
authors: Gen Sheng
authors: GS
authors: Liu
authors: Wei
authors: W
authors: Xu
authors: Shuang
authors: S
authors: Tang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D060466:Axin Protein / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D001757:Blastomeres / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D050764:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p19 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008808:Mice, Inbred CBA; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism*; D020687:cdc25 Phosphatases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D060466:Axin Protein; C555452:Axin1 protein, mouse; C493975:Cdkn2d protein, mouse; D050764:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p19; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C517010:Cdc25c protein, mouse; D020687:cdc25 Phosphatases