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Xu J, Shu Y, Yao G, Zhang Y, Niu W, Zhang Y, Ma X, Jin H, Zhang F, Shi S, Wang Y, Song W, Dai S, Cheng L, Zhang X, Xie W, J Hsueh A, Sun Y. Parental methylome reprogramming in human uniparental blastocysts reveals germline memory transition. Genome Res 2021; 31:1519-1530. [PMID: 34330789 PMCID: PMC8415376 DOI: 10.1101/gr.273318.120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2020] [Accepted: 07/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Uniparental embryos derived from only the mother (gynogenetic [GG]) or the father (androgenetic [AG]) are unique models for studying genomic imprinting and parental contributions to embryonic development. Human parthenogenetic embryos can be obtained following artificial activation of unfertilized oocytes, but the production of AG embryos by injection of two sperm into one denucleated oocyte leads to an extra centriole, resulting in multipolar spindles, abnormal cell division, and developmental defects. Here, we improved androgenote production by transferring the male pronucleus from one zygote into another haploid androgenote to prevent extra centrioles and successfully generated human diploid AG embryos capable of developing into blastocysts with an identifiable inner cell mass (ICM) and trophectoderm (TE). The GG embryos were also generated. The zygotic genome was successfully activated in both the AG and GG embryos. DNA methylome analysis showed that the GG blastocysts partially retain the oocyte transcription-dependent methylation pattern, whereas the AG blastocyst methylome showed more extensive demethylation. The methylation states of most known imprinted differentially methylated regions (DMRs) were recapitulated in the AG and GG blastocysts. Novel candidate imprinted DMRs were also identified. The production of uniparental human embryos followed by transcriptome and methylome analysis is valuable for identifying parental contributions and epigenome memory transitions during early human development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiawei Xu
- The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Center for Reproductive Medicine, Henan Key Laboratory of Reproduction and Genetics;
| | - Yimin Shu
- Stanford University School of Medicine
| | - Guidong Yao
- The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Center for Reproductive Medicine, Henan Key Laboratory of Reproduction and Genetics
| | - Yu Zhang
- Tsinghua University, Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics, Tsinghua-Peking Center for Life Sciences
| | - Wenbin Niu
- The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Center for Reproductive Medicine, Henan Key Laboratory of Reproduction and Genetics
| | - Yile Zhang
- The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Center for Reproductive Medicine, Henan Key Laboratory of Reproduction and Genetics
| | - Xueshan Ma
- The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Center for Reproductive Medicine, Henan Key Laboratory of Reproduction and Genetics
| | - Haixia Jin
- The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Center for Reproductive Medicine, Henan Key Laboratory of Reproduction and Genetics
| | - Fuli Zhang
- The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Center for Reproductive Medicine, Henan Key Laboratory of Reproduction and Genetics
| | - Senlin Shi
- The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Center for Reproductive Medicine, Henan Key Laboratory of Reproduction and Genetics
| | - Yang Wang
- The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Center for Reproductive Medicine, Henan Key Laboratory of Reproduction and Genetics
| | - Wenyan Song
- The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Center for Reproductive Medicine, Henan Key Laboratory of Reproduction and Genetics
| | - Shanjun Dai
- The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Center for Reproductive Medicine, Henan Key Laboratory of Reproduction and Genetics
| | - Luyao Cheng
- The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Center for Reproductive Medicine, Henan Key Laboratory of Reproduction and Genetics
| | - Xiangyang Zhang
- The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Center for Reproductive Medicine, Henan Key Laboratory of Reproduction and Genetics
| | - Wei Xie
- Tsinghua University, Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics, Tsinghua-Peking Center for Life Sciences
| | | | - Yingpu Sun
- The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Center for Reproductive Medicine, Henan Key Laboratory of Reproduction and Genetics
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Zacchini F, Czernik M, Iuso D, Toschi P, di Egidio F, Scapolo PA, Loi P, Ptak G. Efficient production and cellular characterization of sheep androgenetic embryos. Cell Reprogram 2011; 13:495-502. [PMID: 22043807 DOI: 10.1089/cell.2011.0021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
The production of androgenetic embryos in large animals is a complex procedure. Androgenetic embryos have been produced so far only in cattle and sheep using pronuclear transfer (PT) between zygotes derived from in vitro fertilization (IVF) of previously enucleated oocytes. PT is required due to the poor developmental potential of androgenotes derived from IVF of enucleated oocytes. Here we compare the developemt to blastocyst of androgenetic embryos produced by the standard pronuclear transfer and by fertilization of oocytes enucleated in Ca2+/Mg2+-free medium, without pronuclear transfer. The enucleation in Ca2+/Mg2+-free medium abolished almost completely the manipulation-induced activation, significantly improving the development to blastocyst of the androgenetic embryos (IVF followed by PT; 18.6%: IVF only; 17.7%, respectively). Karyotype analysis of IVF revealed a similar proportion of diploid embryos in androgenetic and control blastocysts (35% and 36%, respectively), although mixoploid blastocysts were frequently observed in both groups (64%). Androgenotes had lower total cell numbers than control and parthenogenetic embryos, but more cells in ICM cells comparing to parthenogenotes (30.42 vs. 17.15%). Higher expression of the pluripotency-associated gene NANOG, and trophoblastic-specific gene CDX2, were also observed in androgenotes compared to parthenogenotes and controls. The global methytion profile of androgenetic embryos was comparable to controls, but was lower than parthenogenetic embryos. The cell composition and methylation pattern we have detected in monoparental sheep monoparental embryos are unprecedented, and differ considerably from the standard reference mouse embryos. Altogether, these finding indicate significant differences across species in the molecular mechanisms regulating early development of monoparental embryos, and highlights the need to study postimplantation development of androgenetic embryos in sheep.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federica Zacchini
- Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Teramo, Piazza Aldo Moro 45, 64100 Teramo, Italy
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Smith RJ, Dean W, Konfortova G, Kelsey G. Identification of novel imprinted genes in a genome-wide screen for maternal methylation. Genome Res 2003; 13:558-69. [PMID: 12670997 PMCID: PMC430166 DOI: 10.1101/gr.781503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 135] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
A characteristic of imprinted genes is that the maternal and paternal alleles show differences in methylation. To perform a genome-wide screen for novel imprinted loci, we applied methylation-sensitive representational difference analysis (Me-RDA) to parthenogenetic mouse embryos, to identify differentially methylated regions (DMRs) methylated specifically on the maternal allele. We isolated a total of 26 distinct clones from known and novel DMRs and identified three novel imprinted genes. Nap1l5 is located on proximal chromosome 6 and encodes a protein with homology with nucleosome assembly proteins (NAPs); it has tissue-specific imprinting with expression from the paternal allele. We identified two DMRs on chromosome 15, a chromosome that was not thought to contain imprinted loci, and demonstrated that each is associated with a paternally expressed transcript. Peg13 gives rise to a noncoding RNA that is highly expressed in the brain and imprinted in all tissues examined. A DMR was also identified at the chromosome 15 Slc38a4 gene, which encodes a system A amino acid transporter; we show that Slc38a4 is imprinted in a tissue-specific manner. Interestingly, two of the three novel genes identified in this screen are located within the introns of other genes; their identification indicates that such "microimprinted" domains may be more common than previously thought.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel J Smith
- Developmental Genetics Program, The Babraham Institute, Cambridge CB2 4AT, UK
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