Inhibition of miR-152 during In Vitro Maturation Enhances the Developmental Potential of Porcine Embryos
1
Laboratory of Developmental Biology, Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, 27721 Libechov, Czech Republic
2
Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza 12613, Egypt
3
Faculty of Natural Sciences, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, 94901 Nitra, Slovakia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Animals 2020, 10(12), 2289; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10122289
Received: 4 November 2020 / Revised: 27 November 2020 / Accepted: 2 December 2020 / Published: 4 December 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Reproduction, Fertility and Embryonic Development of Animals)
Simple Summary
MiR-152 is a highly conserved miRNA across different species and plays a role in the regulation of cell differentiation, proliferation, and survival. However, the exact role of miR-152 in oocyte and embryo development is not yet known. In this study, we specifically manipulated the expression level of miR-152 in porcine cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) and monitored their developmental competence until the blastocyst stage. We mainly found that a suppressed expression of miR-152 during oocyte maturation significantly improved the blastocyst rate. Our results indicate that this negative correlation between miR-152 during oocyte maturation and the blastocyst rate in pigs could be through targeting IGF system components during oocyte development. These results provide more insights into the role of miRNAs during oocyte and embryonic development that could improve the in vitro production system for mammalian embryos.
Oocyte developmental competence is regulated by various mechanisms and molecules including microRNAs (miRNAs). However, the functions of many of these miRNAs in oocyte and embryo development are still unclear. In this study, we managed to manipulate the expression level of miR-152 during oocyte maturation to figure out its potential role in determining the developmental competence of porcine oocytes. The inhibition (Inh) of miR-152 during oocyte maturation does not affect the MII and cleavage rates, however it significantly enhances the blastocyst rate compared to the overexpression (OvExp) and control groups. Pathway analysis identified several signaling pathways (including PI3K/AKT, TGFβ, Hippo, FoxO, and Wnt signaling) that are enriched in the predicted target genes of miR-152. Gene expression analysis revealed that IGF1 was significantly up-regulated in the Inh group and downregulated in the OvExp group of oocytes. Moreover, IGF1R was significantly upregulated in the Inh oocyte group compared to the control one and IGFBP6 was downregulated in the Inh oocyte group compared to the other groups. Blastocysts developed from the OvExp oocytes exhibited an increase in miR-152 expression, dysregulation in some quality-related genes, and the lowest rate of blastocyst formation. In conclusion, our results demonstrate a negative correlation between miR-152 expression level and blastocyst rate in pigs. This correlation could be through targeting IGF system components during oocyte development.
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Keywords:
miR-152; porcine; oocyte; blastocyst rate
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MDPI and ACS Style
Gad, A.; Murin, M.; Nemcova, L.; Bartkova, A.; Laurincik, J.; Procházka, R. Inhibition of miR-152 during In Vitro Maturation Enhances the Developmental Potential of Porcine Embryos. Animals 2020, 10, 2289. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10122289
AMA Style
Gad A, Murin M, Nemcova L, Bartkova A, Laurincik J, Procházka R. Inhibition of miR-152 during In Vitro Maturation Enhances the Developmental Potential of Porcine Embryos. Animals. 2020; 10(12):2289. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10122289
Chicago/Turabian StyleGad, Ahmed; Murin, Matej; Nemcova, Lucie; Bartkova, Alexandra; Laurincik, Jozef; Procházka, Radek. 2020. "Inhibition of miR-152 during In Vitro Maturation Enhances the Developmental Potential of Porcine Embryos" Animals 10, no. 12: 2289. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10122289
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