Controle epigenético de genes imprinted em placentas de gestações produzidas por transferência embrionária, fecundação in vitro e transferência nuclear em bovinos

Abstract

The process of embryonic and placental development is under high epigenetic control, with different epigenetic processes regulating the differentiation of pluripotent cells into specialized cells. An abnormal placental development is observed frequently in pregnancies produced by nuclear transfer, and is associated with incomplete epigenetic reprogramming of the donor cell and formed embryo. The objective of this study was to evaluate the expression of the imprinted genes TSSC4 e PHLDA2 in cotiledonary and intercotiledonary tissues, after 60 days of pregnancy, in placentas produced by Embryo Transfer (ET) In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and Nuclear Transfer (NT) in cattle, and also to investigate the epigenetic control of this gene in the bovine placenta evaluating the epigenetic profile of cotiledonary tissues of the experimental groups (ET, IVF and NT). The TSSC4 gene expression was reduced by 30% in the cotyledons in the NT group, however PHLDA2 expression of the gene was elevated by 11-fold in NT compared to ET. ChIP analysis for histone H3 at the proximal promoter region of TSSC4 and PHLDA2 genes showed an increase to the permissive mark H3K4me2 and a reduction for the inhibitory mark H3K9me2 in the cotyledons of cloned placentae, in relation to placentae produced by ET, for both genes. Interestingly, the inhibitory mark H3K9me2 for TSSC4 gene was also significantly reduced in placentae produced by IVF, compared to ET control group. These results show that expression of the imprinted genes TSSC4 and PHLDA2 is affected in placenta of pregnancies produced by nuclear transfer. Further, changes in expression of gene PHLDA2 and histone modifications in TSSC4 gene cotyledons produced by IVF indicate that the in vitro culture can contribute to the observed changes in NT group.