Expression of claudin family proteins in preimplantation embryos in the pig

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25292160
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Animal production science
• Research Institution: Kobe University
• Principal Investigator: MIYAKE MASASHI 神戸大学, 統合研究拠点, 名誉教授 (60093316)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): HARAYAMA Hiroshi 神戸大学, 大学院農学研究科, 教授 (30281140)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 着床前発生 / タイトジャンクション / claudins / グルコース代謝 / 活性化2倍体 / ブタ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The expression of claudin family, tight junction (TJ) were examined in pig blastocysts derived from activated diploids. Blastocysts expressed both mRNAs and proteins of claudin-1, -2, -4, -6, -7, -8, -9, -12 and -14. While claudin-4, -6 and -7 localized along the cell-boundary TJ structure, the other claudins were cytoplasmic. These results suggest that claudin-4, -6 and -7 are important for the TJ functions in pig blastocysts. Knockdown of claudin-1 and -4 by their siRNA severely suppressed the early cleavage.
To examine whether expression patterns of the claudins will be employed as markers for the potential developmental ability of in vitro produced blastocysts in future, features of glucose metabolism was examined in pig preimplantation embryos. It was shown that recommendation of carbohydrates are different depending on the preimplantation developmental stages and hexose biosynthesis pathway and GlcNAcylation have important roles in pig preimplantation development.

Free Research Field

農学／動物生命科学／繁殖