title: Nuclear distribution of the chromatin-remodeling protein ATRX in mouse early embryogenesis.
abstract: The nucleus of mammalian embryos differs by transcriptional activity at different stages of early development. Here, we studied nuclear distribution of the chromatin-remodeling protein ATRX in pre-implantation mouse embryos. Immunofluorescent staining revealed the changes of ATRX nuclear distribution at the initial stages of early mouse development. At the stage of early zygote, a diffuse ATRX distribution pattern was prevalent. During the course of zygotic genome activation (ZGA), zones of increased ATRX concentration are observed, and they are most expressed in the nuclei of late 2-cell embryos. In the morula stage, the ATRX distribution becomes diffuse again. In zygotes, the patterns of ATRX distribution differ between male and female pronuclei. At all the stages, ATRX concentrates in the DAPI-positive areas of condensed chromatin. The level of colocalization between ATRX and heterochromatin was found the highest at the late 2-cell stage. When transcription was artificially suppressed, the pattern of intranuclear ATRX distribution was mostly determined by the mechanism of inhibitor action rather than the decreased level of transcriptional activity. Thus, the obvious changes of ATRX distribution occur and partially correlate with the main stages of ZGA during mouse early development, but these changes seem to be determined by other processes of structural and functional rearrangements of blastomere nuclei.
authors.affiliation: St. Petersburg State University, 7-9 Universitetskaya Emb., 199034 St. Petersburg, Russia. Electronic address: zhuldyz.ks@mail.ru.
authors.forename: Zhuldyz K
authors.initials: ZK
authors.lastname: Sailau
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cell Morphology, Institute of Cytology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 4 Tikhoretsky Ave., 194064 St. Petersburg, Russia.
authors.forename: Dmitry S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Bogolyubov
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cell Morphology, Institute of Cytology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 4 Tikhoretsky Ave., 194064 St. Petersburg, Russia. Electronic address: ibogol@mail.ru.
authors.forename: Irina O
authors.initials: IO
authors.lastname: Bogolyubova
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D042002:Chromatin Assembly and Disassembly; D004265:DNA Helicases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D004004:Dichlororibofuranosylbenzimidazole / Q000494:pharmacology; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006570:Heterochromatin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D019384:Nucleic Acid Synthesis Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D009865:Oocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D015533:Transcriptional Activation; D000075924:X-linked Nuclear Protein; D015053:Zygote / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D006570:Heterochromatin; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D019384:Nucleic Acid Synthesis Inhibitors; D004004:Dichlororibofuranosylbenzimidazole; D004265:DNA Helicases; C490462:Atrx protein, mouse; D000075924:X-linked Nuclear Protein
keywords: ATRX; Cell nucleus; Chromatin; Early mammalian embryos; Zygotic genome activation