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14 - Setting the stage for fertilization: transcriptome and maternal factors

from Section 3 - Developmental biology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2013

By
Kim Boram  and
Coonrod Scott A.
Edited by
Alan Trounson ,
Roger Gosden  and
Ursula Eichenlaub-Ritter
Kim Boram
Affiliation:
Baker Institute for Animal Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
Coonrod Scott A.
Affiliation:
Baker Institute for Animal Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
Alan Trounson
Affiliation:
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
Roger Gosden
Affiliation:
Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility, Cornell University, New York
Ursula Eichenlaub-Ritter
Affiliation:
Universität Bielefeld, Germany
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Summary

Introduction

Toward the end of oocyte growth, an oocyte matures so that it can be fertilized by a sperm and develop into an early embryo. Oocyte maturation encompasses two main interrelated developmental programs, nuclear maturation and cytoplasmic maturation [1]. Nuclear maturation involves the progression from prophase I of meiosis to metaphase II and can be visualized microscopically as germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD), spindle formation, chromosomal condensation/segregation, and polar body extrusion. Cytoplasmic maturation prepares the oocyte for activation and early development and is characterized structurally by the dramatic redistribution of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and mitochondria from a relatively diffuse localization in germinal vesicle (GV) stage oocytes to a much more polarized distribution pattern in mature eggs. The targeting of mitochondria around the spindle apparatus is thought to provide energy, in the form of ATP, to drive processes such as chromosome segregation, while the targeting of the ER to distinct cortical clusters underneath the microvillar cortex is believed to be required for the generation of repetitive Ca2+ transients that are necessary for activation of development [2, 3]. At the molecular level, cytoplasmic maturation involves the accumulation and processing of mRNA and proteins that are also required for successful activation and early development [4]. Microtubules (MTs) play a central role in orchestrating the events of nuclear maturation and are also thought to be important mediators of organelle redistribution during cytoplasmic maturation [5]. Once mature, the oocyte is then competent for fertilization. Sperm–egg interaction is a sequential process whereby sperm first passes through the cumulus cell extracellular matrix, binds to and penetrates the zona pellucida (ZP), and then binds to and fuses with the oocyte plasma membrane (oolemma) [6]. The molecular mechanisms behind each of these interactions are now coming to light, thus greatly increasing our understanding of the fertilization process in mammals. Due, in part, to the transcriptional arrest that occurs upon resumption of meiotic maturation and prior to activation of the embryonic genome (EGA), the embryo must rely on stores of maternal transcripts and proteins to provide the material necessary to make the oocyte-to-embryo transition (OET) [4]. These stored factors are encoded by maternal-effect genes (MEG), which can be defined as genes encoded by the maternal genome that are essential for early embryogenesis.

Type
Chapter
Information
Biology and Pathology of the Oocyte
Role in Fertility, Medicine and Nuclear Reprograming
 , pp. 164 - 176
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2013

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