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The frequency of precocious segregation of sister chromatids in mouse female meiosis I is affected by genetic background

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Abstract

Mammalian female gametes frequently suffer from numerical chromosomal aberrations, the main cause of miscarriages and severe developmental defects. The underlying mechanisms responsible for the development of aneuploidy in oocytes are still not completely understood and remain a subject of extensive research. From studies focused on prevalence of aneuploidy in mouse oocytes, it has become obvious that reported rates of aneuploidy are strongly dependent on the method used for chromosome counting. In addition, it seems likely that differences between mouse strains could influence the frequency of aneuploidy as well; however, up till now, such a comparison has not been available. Therefore, in our study, we measured the levels of aneuploidy which has resulted from missegregation in meiosis I, in oocytes of three commonly used mouse strains—CD-1, C3H/HeJ, and C57BL/6. Our results revealed that, although the overall chromosomal numerical aberration rates were similar in all three strains, a different number of oocytes in each strain contained prematurely segregated sister chromatids (PSSC). This indicates that a predisposition for this type of chromosome segregation error in oocyte meiosis I is dependent on genetic background.

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Abbreviations

CGH:

Comparative genomic hybridization

CSF:

Cytostatic factor

FISH:

Fluorescence in situ hybridization

GV:

Germinal vesicle

GVBD:

Germinal vesicle breakdown

PB:

Polar body

PSSC:

Prematurely segregated sister chromatids/precociously separated sister chromatids

SAC:

Spindle assembly checkpoint

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Jiri Rubes for helpful discussion and useful comments. This work was supported by Czech science foundation project P502/12/2201 and by MEYS projects ED1.1.00/02.0068—CEITEC, CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0213—CeDiLa, and LH 13072—Kontakt II.

Ethical standards

The authors declare that all experiments performed in this study comply with the current laws of the Czech Republic. All institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed.

Conflict of interest

The authors (A.D., K.K., T.A., and M.A.) declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Veterinary Research Institute, Hudcova 70, 621 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Anna Danylevska, Kristina Kovacovicova, Thuraya Awadova & Martin Anger

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  1. Anna Danylevska
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  2. Kristina Kovacovicova
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  3. Thuraya Awadova
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  4. Martin Anger
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Correspondence to Martin Anger.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Fengtang Yang

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Supplemental Figure 1

Resolution of the superimposed or closely positioned kinetochores by 3D reconstruction. The left image shows a chromosome with a pair of superimposed kinetochores. The middle image presents the same chromosome rotated 90 degrees along the z-axis. The image on the right only shows the kinetochore channel of the same chromosome. Chromosomes (in red) stained with DAPI, kinetochores (in green) labeled by CREST antiserum. Scale bar represents 1 μm. (GIF 82 kb)

High resolution image (TIFF 7571 kb)

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Danylevska, A., Kovacovicova, K., Awadova, T. et al. The frequency of precocious segregation of sister chromatids in mouse female meiosis I is affected by genetic background. Chromosome Res 22, 365–373 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10577-014-9428-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10577-014-9428-6

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