title: Decrease in expression of maternal effect gene Mater is associated with maternal ageing in mice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  What factors in mouse oocytes are involved in the ageing-related decline in oocyte quality?
  
  
  RESULTS
  The maternal effect gene Mater is involved in ageing-related oocyte quality decline in mice.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Premature loss of centromere cohesion is a hallmark of ageing-related oocyte quality decline; the maternal effect gene Mater (maternal antigen that embryos require, also known as Nlrp5) is required for preimplantation embryo development beyond the 2-cell stage, and mRNA expression of Mater decreases with maternal ageing.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mater protein expression level in mature oocytes from 7 young (5-8 weeks old) to 7 old mice (41-68 weeks old) was compared by immunoblotting analysis. Wild-type and Mater-null mice were used to examine whether Mater is necessary for maintaining normal centromere cohesion by means of cytogenetic karyotyping, time-lapse confocal microscopy and immunofluorescence staining.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mater protein is decreased in mature oocytes from old versus young mice (P = 0.0022). Depletion of Mater from oocytes leads to a reduction in centromere cohesion, manifested by precocious sister chromatid separation, enlargement of sister centromere distance and misalignment of chromosomes in the metaphase plate during meiosis I and II.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study was conducted in mice. Whether or not the results are applicable to human remains further elucidation. In addition, we were unable to confirm if the strain of mice (C57BL/6XSv129) at the age of 41-68 weeks old has the 'cohesin-loss' phenotype.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Investigating Mater's functional mechanisms could provide fresh insights into understanding how the ageing-related oocyte quality decline occurs.
  
  
  METHODS
  N/A.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  This work was supported by the research grant from Chinese NSFC to P.Z. (31071274). We have no conflict of interests to declare.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China Yunnan Key Laboratory of Animal Reproduction, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China.
authors.forename: Yong-qing
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China Yunnan Key Laboratory of Animal Reproduction, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China.
authors.forename: Xie-chao
authors.initials: XC
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China Yunnan Key Laboratory of Animal Reproduction, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China zhengp@mail.kiz.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D000941:Antigens / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D002503:Centromere / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002842:Chromatids / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004527:Egg Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D007621:Karyotyping; D008540:Meiosis; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009865:Oocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D059008:Time-Lapse Imaging
chemical_list: D000941:Antigens; D004527:Egg Proteins; C416503:Nalp5 protein, mouse
keywords: Mater; aneuploidy; cohesion; maternal ageing; oocyte