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Comment |
Alterations in the transcriptome of porcine oocytes derived from prepubertal and cyclic females is associated with developmental potential. Paczkowski M et al. Developmental competence of oocytes is progressively attained as females approach puberty. The poor quality of prepubertal-derived oocytes suggests that essential processes during cytoplasmic maturation have not been completed. The objective of this experiment was to identify genes in oocytes that are associated with good (cyclic females) and poor (prepubertal females) developmental competence. Development to the blastocyst stage in vitro was significantly decreased in oocytes derived from prepubertal compared to cyclic females (5.26% and 12.86%, respectively). Approximately 10% of the oocyte transcriptome was differentially expressed between in vitro-matured oocytes derived from cyclic and prepubertal females (P < 0.05); 58% of differentially expressed genes had increased transcript abundance in oocytes derived from cyclic females. Genes involved in metabolism and regulation of biological processes had increased transcript abundance in oocytes derived from cyclic females, whereas genes involved in translation were increased in prepubertal-derived oocytes. Quantitative PCR (qPCR) confirmed differential expression (P < 0.05) for 6 out of 11 selected genes (DPYD, RDH11, SFRS4, SFRS7, TL4, and TOP2B), that were differentially expressed with greater than a 2-fold change by microarray, although 3 of these genes, DPYD, TL4, and TOP2B, were in opposing direction by the 2 methods. In conclusion, expression of multiple genes involved in metabolism and translation is significantly altered in oocytes from prepubertal compared to cyclic females, which is associated with reduced in vitro development to the blastocyst stage. These genes may represent important cellular mechanisms that regulate oocyte quality.
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