Post-Translational Modifications in Oocyte Maturation and Embryo Development

Abstract

Mammalian oocyte maturation and embryo development are unique biological processes regulated by various modifications. Since de novo mRNA transcription is absent during oocyte meiosis, protein-level regulation, especially post-translational modification (PTM), is crucial. It is known that PTM plays key roles in diverse cellular events such as DNA damage response, chromosome condensation, and cytoskeletal organization during oocyte maturation and embryo development. However, most previous reviews on PTM in oocytes and embryos have only focused on studies of Xenopus laevis or Caenorhabditis elegans eggs. In this review, we will discuss the latest discoveries regarding PTM in mammalian oocytes maturation and embryo development, focusing on phosphorylation, ubiquitination, SUMOylation and Poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation (PARylation). Phosphorylation functions in chromosome condensation and spindle alignment by regulating histone H3, mitogen-activated protein kinases, and some other pathways during mammalian oocyte maturation. Ubiquitination is a three-step enzymatic cascade that facilitates the degradation of proteins, and numerous E3 ubiquitin ligases are involved in modifying substrates and thus regulating oocyte maturation, oocyte-sperm binding, and early embryo development. Through the reversible addition and removal of SUMO (small ubiquitin-related modifier) on lysine residues, SUMOylation affects the cell cycle and DNA damage response in oocytes. As an emerging PTM, PARlation has been shown to not only participate in DNA damage repair, but also mediate asymmetric division of oocyte meiosis. Each of these PTMs and external environments is versatile and contributes to distinct phases during oocyte maturation and embryo development.

NAT10 Maintains OGA mRNA Stability Through ac4C Modification in Regulating Oocyte Maturation

“…It supports our finding that OGA KD resulted in elevated O-GlcNAc modification and thus jeopardized oocyte development potential. It is worthy to note that most studies about O-GlcNAcylation in oocytes were carried out in the nonmammal such as Xenopus because of the technology limit and the available number of oocytes (45). We performed it in mice oocytes, which might be more consistent with the maturation progress of human oocytes.…”

Physiological Ovarian Aging Is Associated with Altered Expression of Post-Translational Modifications in Mice

“…Histones are the protein components of the nucleosome, which form the basic architecture of eukaryotic chromatin. The N terminus of histones H2A, H2B, H3, and H4 can undergo many types of post-translational modification, including methylation, phosphorylation, acetylation, and ubiquitination [ 27 ]. Histones PTMs have become a research hotspot, because they not only participate in the key molecular network of ovarian physiological function regulation, but also may be an important pathological mechanism of common ovarian diseases.…”

A landscape of differentiated biological processes involved in the initiation of sex differentiation in zebrafish

“…Other biological processes related to ubiquitination and sphingolipid biosynthesis were also enriched (Figure 3 A). On one hand, protein ubiquitination facilitates protein degradation, and in mammals, this process regulates the cell cycle, fertilization and oocyte maturation (Wu, Li et al 2021). The genes involved in ubiquitination are thought to be related to the egg quality in Sea Bass (Żarski, Nguyen et al 2017).…”