Asymmetric histone 3 methylation pattern between paternal and maternal pronuclei in equine zygotes

作者：Heras Sonia^*; Smits Katrien; Leemans Bart; Van Soom Ann

来源：Analytical Biochemistry, 2015, 471: 67-69.

DOI：10.1016/j.ab.2014.11.005

• Immunofluorescence
• Epigenetics
• H3K9me3
• Pronuclear sexing
• Equine zygotes

Hoechst staining has traditionally been used to evaluate fertilization and parental origin of pronuclei. However, prevalence of parthenogenetic activation cannot be distinguished accurately by this protocol, and variation of relative pronuclear size and position makes it impossible to determine parental origin. We demonstrate that in equine zygotes, the epigenetic modification histone 3 lysine 9 trimethylation (H3K9me3) shows an asymmetric pattern between maternal and paternal pronuclei. H3K9me3 immunostaining appears to be a robust technique to identify the parent of origin of equine pronuclei; it can be used in combination with 5-methylcytosine and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine immunostaining and applied to evaluate fertilization.

• 出版日期2015-2-15