Knockdown of regulator of G-protein signalling 2 (Rgs2) leads to abnormal early mouse embryo development in vitro

Abstract

Regulator of G-protein signalling 2 (Rgs2) is involved in G-protein-mediated signalling by negatively regulating the activity of the G-protein α-subunit. In the present study, the expression patterns of Rgs2 in mouse ovarian tissues and early embryos were determined by semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescent analyses. Rgs2 expression was observed in the ovarian tissues of adult female mice, with an almost equal expression levels during different stages of the oestrous cycle. Rgs2 was abundant in the cytoplasm, membrane, nuclei and spindles of intact polar bodies in mouse early embryos at different developmental stages from the zygote to blastocyst. The effect of Rgs2 knockdown on early embryonic development in vitro was examined by microinjecting Rgs2-specific short interfering (si) RNAs into mouse zygotes. Knockdown of endogenous Rgs2 expression led to abnormal embryonic development in vitro, with a considerable number of early embryos arrested at the 2- or 4-cell stage. Moreover, mRNA expression of three zygotic gene activation-related genes (i.e. Zscan4, Tcstv1 and MuERV-L) was decreased significantly in 2-cell arrested embryos. These results suggest that Rgs2 plays a critical role in early embryo development.

Uterine RGS2 expression is regulated by exogenous estrogen and progesterone in ovariectomized mice, and downregulation of RGS2 expression in artificial decidualized ESCs inhibits trophoblast spreading in vitro

“…Steroid hormones produced in the ovaries, such as estrogen and progesterone, play (Das et al, 2009(Das et al, , 2012Paria, Tan, Lubahn, Dey, & Das, 1999). We found that RGS2 is periodically expressed in murine ovarian tissue in time with the estrous cycle, in response to the release of ovarian hormones (Zhu et al, 2015). .…”

“…Steroid hormones produced in the ovaries, such as estrogen and progesterone, play very important roles in female reproduction, such as promoting the follicular development (Mendoza et al, ), releasing mature oocytes (Morrison, Waggoner, Whitworth‐Langley, & Stith, ; Salehnia & Zavareh, ), and regulating the proliferation and differentiation of uterine cells (Das et al, , ; Paria, Tan, Lubahn, Dey, & Das, ). We found that RGS2 is periodically expressed in murine ovarian tissue in time with the estrous cycle, in response to the release of ovarian hormones (Zhu et al, ). .…”

Signaling pathways in mammalian preimplantation development: Linking cellular phenotypes to lineage decisions

“…Finally, expression of Rgs2 , a negative regulator of Gα, has been reported in early embryos from the zygote to the blastocyst (Zhu et al, ). Reduced levels of Rgs2 expression led to abnormal embryonic development in vitro, with embryos arrested at the two‐ or four‐cell stage, and a significant decrease in the expression of zygotic activation‐related genes.…”

Atypical GATA protein TRPS1 plays indispensable roles in mouse two-cell embryo

“…Several genes such as MuERV-L, Zscan4d, Hsp70.1 and eIF1A are regarded as "marker" genes in studies assessing ZGA status [42,[48][49][50][51][52][53]. To investigate whether the observed two-cell blockage correlated with ZGA, alterations in the expression of these ZGA markers in two-cell embryos after Trps1-siRNA were examined.…”