Contextualizing Autophagy during Gametogenesis and Preimplantation Embryonic Development.

Int J Mol Sci

Department of Biological Sciences, Campus Diadema, Federal University of Sao Paulo-UNIFESP, Diadema 09972-270, SP, Brazil.

Published: June 2021

Mammals face environmental stressors throughout their lifespan, which may jeopardize cellular homeostasis. Hence, these organisms have acquired mechanisms to cope with stressors by sensing, repairing the damage, and reallocating resources to increase the odds of long-term survival. Autophagy is a pro-survival lysosome-mediated cytoplasm degradation pathway for organelle and macromolecule recycling. Furthermore, autophagy efflux increases, and this pathway becomes idiosyncratic depending upon developmental and environmental contexts. Mammalian germ cells and preimplantation embryos are attractive models for dissecting autophagy due to their metastable phenotypes during differentiation and exposure to varying environmental cues. The aim of this review is to explore autophagy during mammalian gametogenesis, fertilization and preimplantation embryonic development by contemplating its physiological role during development, under key stressors, and within the scope of assisted reproduction technologies.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8231133PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms22126313DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

preimplantation embryonic
8
embryonic development
8
contextualizing autophagy
4
autophagy gametogenesis
4
gametogenesis preimplantation
4
development mammals
4
mammals face
4
face environmental
4
environmental stressors
4
stressors lifespan
4

Similar Publications

Mouse totipotent blastomere-like cells model embryogenesis from zygotic genome activation to post implantation.

Cell Stem Cell

January 2025

MOE Key Laboratory of Cell Proliferation and Differentiation, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; Beijing Advanced Center of RNA Biology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. Electronic address:

Embryo development begins with zygotic genome activation (ZGA), eventually generating blastocysts for implantation. However, in vitro systems modeling the pre-implantation development are still absent and challenging. Here, we used mouse totipotent blastomere-like cells (TBLCs) to develop spontaneous differentiation and blastoid formation systems, respectively.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Genomic imprinting is the parent-of-origin dependent monoallelic expression of genes often associated with regions of germline-derived DNA methylation that are maintained as differentially methylated regions (gDMRs) in somatic tissues. This form of epigenetic regulation is highly conserved in mammals and is thought to have co-evolved with placentation. Tissue-specific gDMRs have been identified in human placenta, suggesting that species-specific imprinting dependent on unorthodox epigenetic establishment or maintenance may be more widespread than previously anticipated.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Preimplantation embryos in vivo are exposed to various growth factors in the female reproductive tract that are absent in in vitro embryo culture media. Cell-free fat extract exerts antioxidant, anti-ageing, and ovarian function-promoting effects. However, its effects on embryo quality are yet to be investigated.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Effect of introducing somatic mitochondria into an early embryo on zygotic gene activation†.

Biol Reprod

January 2025

Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Reproduction, Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-8589, Japan.

Unlike differentiated somatic cells, which possess elongated mitochondria, undifferentiated cells, such as those of preimplantation embryos, possess round, immature mitochondria. Mitochondrial morphology changes dynamically during cell differentiation in a process called mitochondrial maturation. The significance of the alignment between cell differentiation and mitochondrial maturity in preimplantation development remains unclear.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Allelic transcriptomic profiling identifies the role of PRD-like homeobox genes in human embryonic-cleavage-stage arrest.

Dev Cell

January 2025

Center for Reproductive Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China; National Clinical Research Center for Obstetrics and Gynecology (Peking University Third Hospital), Beijing 100191, China; State Key Laboratory of Female Fertility Promotion, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China; Key Laboratory of Assisted Reproduction (Peking University), Ministry of Education, Beijing 100191, China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Reproductive Endocrinology and Assisted Reproductive Technology, Beijing 100191, China. Electronic address:

Cleavage-stage arrest in human embryos substantially limits the success rate of infertility treatment, with maternal-to-zygotic transition (MZT) abnormalities being a potential contributor. However, the underlying mechanisms and regulators remain unclear. Here, by performing allelic transcriptome analysis on human preimplantation embryos, we accurately quantified MZT progression by allelic ratio and identified a fraction of 8-cell embryos, at the appropriate developmental time point and exhibiting normal morphology, were in transcriptionally arrested status.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!