Array technology is a widely used tool for gene expression profiling, providing the possibility to monitor expression levels of an unlimited number of genes in various biological systems including preimplantation embryos. The objective of the present study was to develop and validate a bovine cDNA array and to compare expression profiles of embryos derived from different origins. A bovine blastocyst cDNA library was generated. Poly(A+)RNA was extracted from in vitro-produced embryos using a Dynabead mRNA purification kit. First-strand synthesis was performed with SacIT21 primer followed by randomly primed second-strand synthesis with a DOP primer mix (Roche) and a global PCR with 35 cycles using SacIT21 and DOP primers. Complementary DNA fragments from 300 to 1500bp were extracted from the gel and normalized via reassoziation and hydroxyapatite chromatography. Resulting cDNAs were digested with SacI and XhoI, ligated into a pBKs vector, and transfected into competent bacteria (Stratagene). After blue/white colony selection, plasmids were extracted and the inserts were subjected to PCR using vector specific primers. Average insert size was determined by size idenfication on agarose gels stained with ethidium bromide. After purification via precipitation and denaturation, 192 cDNA probes were double-spotted onto a nylon membrane and bound to the membrane by UV cross linking. Amplified RNA (aRNA) probes from pools of three or single blastocysts were generated as described recently (Brambrink et al., 2002 BioTechniques, 33, 3–9) and hybridized to the membranes. Expression profiles of in vitro-produced blastocysts cultured in either SOF plus BSA or TCM plus serum were compared with those of diploid parthenogenetic ones generated by chemical activation. Thirty-three probes have been sequenced and, after comparison with public data bases, 26 were identified as cDNAs or genes. Twelve out of 192 (6%) seem to be differentially expressed within the three groups;; 7/12 (58%) were down-regulated, 3/12 (25%) were up-regulated in SOF-derived embryos, and 2/12 (20%) were up-regulated in parthenogenetic blastocysts compared to their in vitro-generated counterparts. Three of these genes involved in calcium signaling (calmodulin, calreticulin) and regulation of actin cytoskeleton (destrin) were validated by semi-quantitative RT-PCR (Wrenzycki et al., 2001 Biol. Reprod. 65, 309–317) employing poly(A+) RNA from a single blastocyst as starting material. No differences were detected in the relative abundance of the analysed gene transcripts within the different groups. These findings were confirmed employing the aRNA used for hybridization in RT-PCR and showed a good representativity of the selected transcripts. Results indicate that it is possible to construct a homologous cDNA array which could be used for gene expression profiling of bovine preimplantation embryos. Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG Ni 256/18-1).
What can we learn from gene expression profiling of mouse oocytes?