Gene expression changes in ovaries of oocyte-specific conditional knockout of Ubc9 in juvenile mice

The reproductive lifespan in mammals is largely determined by the abundance and quality of oocytes residing within the primoridial ovarian follicular pool. Critical oocyte-expressed genes driving ovarian function have been identified, buta role for post-translational modifications, such as SUMOylation of these key factors is not well understood. Oocyte-specific genetic ablation of the sole E2 SUMOylation enzyme, UBC9, cause female sterility. Preantral and antral stage ovarian follicles are depleted by sexual maturity, and loss of the ovarian reserve in early adulthood causes premature ovarian failure, a condition associated with infertility in women. Gene expression changes indicate atered function of multiple POI candidate genes, including the transcription factors, NOBOX and SOHLH1. Together, these studies show that SUMOylation is required in the mammalian oocyte for regulating key genetic determinants of oocyte growth and differentiation. Ovarian mRNA profiles of 14-day old control (Ubc9flox/flox) and Ubc9flox/flox Gdf9iCre+ mice were generated by RNA sequencing, in triplicate pools, using an Illumina HiSeq 2500 system.哺乳动物的生殖寿命主要由原始卵巢滤泡池中卵母细胞的数量与质量决定。目前已鉴定出若干在卵母细胞中表达、可调控卵巢功能的关键基因，但针对此类关键因子的SUMO化修饰（SUMOylation）等翻译后修饰的生物学作用，尚未得到充分解析。通过对卵母细胞特异性敲除唯一的SUMO化E2酶UBC9，可导致雌性不育。至性成熟时，窦前卵泡与窦状卵泡已被完全耗竭；成年早期卵巢储备的丧失会引发早发性卵巢功能不全（premature ovarian failure, POI），该病症与女性不孕密切相关。基因表达谱的变化显示，包括转录因子NOBOX与SOHLH1在内的多种POI候选基因的功能出现异常。综上，上述研究证实，哺乳动物卵母细胞中的SUMO化修饰是调控卵母细胞生长与分化关键遗传决定因子的必要条件。本数据集通过Illumina HiSeq 2500测序平台，对14日龄对照组（Ubc9flox/flox）与Ubc9flox/flox Gdf9iCre+小鼠的卵巢mRNA进行了RNA测序，样本采用三份生物学重复混合池的形式进行制备。