J. Anim Sci., doi: 10.2527/jas.2007-0718
©Copyright, 2008, The American Society of Animal Science
Trichostatin A and nuclear reprogramming of cloned rabbit embryos
L. H. Shi 1,
J. S. Ai 1,
Y. C. OuYang 2,
J. C. Huang 1,
Z. L. Lei 1,
Q. Wang 1,
S. Yin 1,
Z. M. Han 2,
Q. Y. Sun 2,
D. Y. Chen 2*
1 State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Graduate School, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
2 State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: chendy{at}ioz.ac.cn.
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Abstract |
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In order to investigate the influence of histone deacetylases (HDACs) on the nuclear reprogramming after nuclear transfer (NT), we treated the cloned embryos with a histone deacetylase inhibitor, Trichostatin A (TSA). In the present study, global changes in acetylation of histone H3-lysine 14 (AcH3/K14), histone H4-lysine 12 (AcH4/K12) and histone H4-lysine 5 (AcH4/K5) were studied in rabbit in-vivo fertilized embryos, somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryos and TSA-treated SCNT embryos. From the pronucleus to the morula stage, the deacetylation-reacetylation changes of AcH3/K14 and AcH4/K12 both occurred in fertilized embryos and TSA-treated cloned embryos; however, the distribution pattern in untreated cloned embryos failed to display such changes. More interestingly, the signal of AcH4/K12 in cloned embryos was detected in both the inner cell mass (ICM) and the trophectoderm, whereas TSA-treated cloned embryos showed the same staining pattern as fertilized embryos and the staining was limited to the ICM. The histone acetylation pattern of TSA-treated SCNT embryos appeared to be more similar to that of normal embryos, indicating that TSA could improve the nuclear reprogramming after NT.
Key Words:
histone acetylation, rabbit fertilized embryos, somatic cell nuclear transfer embryos, Trichostatin A
