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Buffalo SCNT embryos exhibit abnormal gene expression of ERK/MAPK pathway and DNA methylation
Author(s) -
Ashok Disha,
Sood Tanushri Jerath,
Sah Shrutika,
Palta Prabhat,
Mukesh Manishi,
Chauhan Manmohan Singh,
Manik Radhey Sham,
Singla Suresh Kumar
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
reproduction in domestic animals
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.546
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1439-0531
pISSN - 0936-6768
DOI - 10.1111/rda.13217
Subject(s) - mapk/erk pathway , dnmt1 , biology , dna methylation , methyltransferase , blastocyst , methylation , embryo , dnmt3b , microbiology and biotechnology , andrology , gene expression , gene , embryogenesis , genetics , kinase , medicine
Inhibition of ERK/MAPK pathway has been shown to decrease DNA methylation via down‐regulation of DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) in several studies suggesting that this pathway plays an important role in regulation of DNA methylation. We examined the relative expression level of seven important genes related to ERK/MAPK pathway and DNMTs ( DNMT1 , DNMT3a and DNMT3b ) by quantitative real‐time PCR in buffalo blastocysts produced by Hand‐made cloning and compared it with that in blastocyst‐stage embryos produced by in vitro fertilization (IVF). The expression level of six of seven genes related to ERK/MAPK pathway examined i.e., p21RAS, RAF1, AKT1, ERK2, PIK3R2 and c‐ Myc was significantly higher ( p < 0.05) in cloned than in IVF embryos. However, the expression level of FOS was lower ( p < 0.005) in cloned than in IVF embryos. The relative expression level of DNMT3a and DNMT3b but not that of DNMT1 was significantly higher ( p < 0.05) in cloned than in IVF embryos. These results indicate that the cloned embryos exhibit an abnormal expression of several important genes related to ERK/MAPK pathway and DNMTs. Although a direct link between ERK/MAPK pathway and DNMTs was not examined in the present study, it can be speculated that ERK/MAPK pathway may have a role in regulating the expression of DNMTs in embryos, as also observed in other tissues.