title: Differential expression of microRNAs in 2-cell and 4-cell mouse embryos.
abstract: In vitro fertilized (IVF) human embryos have a high incidence of developmental arrest before the blastocyst stage, therefore characterization of the molecular mechanisms that regulate embryo development is urgently required. Post-transcriptional control by microRNAs (miRNAs) is one of the most investigated RNA control mechanisms, and is hypothesized to be involved actively in developmental arrest in preimplantation embryos. In this study, we extracted total RNA from mouse 2-cell and 4-cell embryos. Using a miRNA microarray, 192 miRNAs were found to be differentially expressed in 4-cell embryos and 2-cell embryos; 122 miRNAs were upregulated and 70 were downregulated in 4-cell embryos. The microarray results were confirmed by real-time quantitative RT-PCR for six miRNAs (mmu-miR-467h, mmu-miR-466d-3p, mmu-miR-292-5p, mmu-miR-154, mmu-miR-2145, and mmu-miR-706). Cdca4 and Tcf12 were identified as miR-154 target genes by target prediction analysis. This study provides a developmental map for a large number of miRNAs in 2-cell and 4-cell embryos. The function of these miRNAs and the mechanisms by which they modulate embryonic developmental arrest require further study. The results of this study have potential applications in the field of reproductive medicine.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine,Department of Reproduction,Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University,Nanjing 210004,China.
authors.forename: Pei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine,Department of Reproduction,Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University,Nanjing 210004,China.
authors.forename: Ji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine,Department of Reproduction,Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University,Nanjing 210004,China.
authors.forename: Chun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine,Department of Reproduction,Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University,Nanjing 210004,China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine,Department of Reproduction,Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University,Nanjing 210004,China.
authors.forename: Xirong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine,Department of Reproduction,Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University,Nanjing 210004,China.
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine,Department of Reproduction,Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University,Nanjing Medical University,Nanjing,Jiangsu Province,China.
authors.forename: Junqiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine,Department of Reproduction,Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University,Nanjing Medical University,Nanjing,Jiangsu Province,China.
authors.forename: Xiufeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ling
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D009124:Muscle Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D035683:MicroRNAs; D009124:Muscle Proteins; C445240:Cdca4 protein, mouse; C000598889:MIRN154 microRNA, mouse; C489532:Tcf12 protein, mouse