title: Involvement of G9A-like protein (GLP) in the development of mouse preimplantation embryos in vitro.
abstract: G9A-like protein (GLP) plays an important role in mouse early embryonic development. Glp-deficient embryos exhibit severe growth retardation and defects that lead to lethality at approximately Embryonic Day 9.5. In the present study we investigated the effect of microinjection of Glp-specific short interference (si) RNA into mouse zygotes on in vitro embryonic development. Knockdown of Glp induced abnormal embryonic development and reduced blastocyst formation. Expression of the pluripotency markers octamer-binding transcription factor 4 (Oct4), SRY (sex determining region Y)-box 2 (Sox2) and Nanog was also significantly decreased in Glp-deficient embryos. The apoptotic index and expression of two pro-apoptotic genes, namely Caspase 3 and Caspase 9, were increased in Glp-deficient embryos. Moreover, methylation levels of dimethylated H3K9 (H3K9me2) were decreased in Glp-knockdown embryos. In conclusion, the results of the present study suggest that Glp deficiency suppresses H3K9me2 modification and hinders mouse embryo development in vitro.
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Weigang No. 1, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Xian-Ju
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University People's Hospital, Beichen West Road No. 1, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Xueshan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Animal Science College, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Nongda Road No. 311, Wulumuqi, Xinjiang 830052, China.
authors.forename: Xuguang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Weigang No. 1, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Xiaolong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Weigang No. 1, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Weigang No. 1, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Shao-Chen
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Weigang No. 1, Nanjing 210095, China.|Corresponding author. Email: liuhonglin@njau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Honglin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
keywords: Glp deficiency; abnormal development; apoptosis