Gene Expression
Elucidating Pathways Associated with Blastocyst Dormancy and Activation
A review of Global gene expression analysis identifies molecular pathways distinguishing blastocyst dormancy and activation.
Note: This is a review of the published article listed below. All information, quotes, figures, methods, and findings mentioned in this review are from that article, and are the property of its authors and/or the publication in which the article originally appeared.
Toshio Hamatani et al (2004) use global gene expression analysis to identify the molecular pathways that distinguish blastocyst dormancy and activation in the mouse model system. The researchers hybridized cRNA targets from dormant or activated blastocysts to 22K 60-mer oligo microarrays and performed extensive validation by quantitative real-time RT-PCR to confirm the array results for essentially all genes tested. The results provide evidence that the two different physiological states of the blastocyst, dormancy and activation, are molecularly distinguishable in a global perspective and underscore the importance of specific molecular pathways in these processes, as well as identifying important related candidate genes for elucidating function and relevance to these physiological states.
Figure 1. A scatter plot of 21,939 gene features on NIA 22,000 60-mer oligo microarray, comparing gene expression in dormant and activated blastocysts.
Microarray data were analyzed by ANOVA-FDR statistics. The combined results of six hybridizations identified 229 differentially expressed genes (averaged log intensity =2.3, P = 0.01, and FDR =0.1), including 80 genes highly expressed in dormant blastocysts (green circles) and 149 genes highly expressed in activated blastocysts (red circles).
Figure 2. A chart of cell cycle genes.
Green and red boxes highlight for higher expression (FDR < 0.1) in dormant and activated blastocysts, respectively. The genes, which showed higher expression with P = 0.05 and FDR = 0.1 in activated blastocysts, are highlighted as pink boxes. The lines with arrowheads or T heads represent stimulation or suppression, respectively. The pathway figure is based on the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway database, with slight modification. Based on published data, the dashed lines from Brca1 represent increased expression of p21cip1/WAF1 and decreased expression of cyclin E in Brca1–/– embryos. +P, –P, and +U indicate phosphorylation, dephosphorylation, and ubiquitination, respectively.
Title: Global gene expression analysis identifies molecular pathways distinguishing blastocyst dormancy and activation.
Journal: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004 Jul 13;101(28):10326-31.
Authors: Hamatani T, Daikoku T, Wang H, Matsumoto H, Carter MG, Ko MS, Dey SK.
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