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Plk1 inhibition leads to a failure of mitotic division during the first mitotic division in pig embryos

  • Embryo Biology
  • Published:
Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

This study was conducted to examine the dynamic distribution of polo-like 1 kinase (Plk1) and the possible role it plays in first mitotic division during early porcine embryo development.

Methods

Indirect immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy imaging techniques combined with western blot analyses were used to study the dynamic expression and subcellular localization of Plk1 protein in pig parthenogenetic embryos. Finally, a selective Plk1 inhibitor, GSK461364, was used to evaluate the potential role of Plk1 during this special stage.

Results

The results showed that Plk1 upon expression exhibited specific dynamic intracellular localization, which closely correlated with the α-tubulin distribution during the first mitotic division. GSK461364 treatment resulted in cleavage failure, with majority of the GSK461364-treated embryos being arrested in prometaphase. Further results of the subcellular structure examination showed that GSK461364 treatment led to a significantly higher proportion of the treated embryos having abnormal spindles and misarranged chromosomes at the prometaphase stage.

Conclusions

Thus, these results indicated that Plk1 is essential for porcine embryos to complete the first mitotic division. Furthermore, Plk1 regulation was associated with effects on spindle assembly and chromosome arrangement.

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Acknowledgements

The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31572589 and 31201967), the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (20130097110020), the Natural Science Foundation (BK2012369), and Priority Academic Program Development (PAPD) of Jiangsu Province. We are thankful to Hao Zhang for providing porcine ovaries. We also express our gratitude to Guoqing Huang for his help with using confocal laser-scanning microscopy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Veterinary Medicine, Nanjing Agricultural University, Jiangsu, 210095, China

    Zixiao Zhang, Changchao Chen, Panpan Cui, Yaya Liao, Lingyun Yao, Yue Zhang, Rong Rui & Shiqiang Ju

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  1. Zixiao Zhang
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  2. Changchao Chen
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  3. Panpan Cui
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  4. Yaya Liao
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  5. Lingyun Yao
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  6. Yue Zhang
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  8. Shiqiang Ju
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shiqiang Ju.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (31572589 and 31201967), the Specialized Research Fund for Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (20130097110020), the Natural Science Foundation (BK2012369), and Priority Academic Program Development (PAPD) of Jiangsu Province.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed were in accordance with institutional, national, and/or international guidelines with comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Zhang, Z., Chen, C., Cui, P. et al. Plk1 inhibition leads to a failure of mitotic division during the first mitotic division in pig embryos. J Assist Reprod Genet 34, 399–407 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-016-0864-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-016-0864-4

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