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.