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Oocyte Maturation and Fertilization
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Oocyte Maturation and Fertilization

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Biochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2020) | Viewed by 16600

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Ken-ichi Sato

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratory of Oocyte Biology and Question Formulation, Faculty of Life Sciences, Kyoto Sangyo University, Kyoto, Japan
Interests: fertilisation; oogenesis; oocyte maturation; early development; oncogene; membrane microdomain; signal transduction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Female fertility depends primarily on the proper development of the oocyte within ovary. The fully-grown immature oocytes then undergo oocyte maturation and ovulation in response to hormonal stimulation. Oocyte maturation refers to a release of meiotic arrest that allows oocytes to progress from prophase I to metaphase II of meiosis. The ovulated and matured oocytes, in other words, fertilization-competent oocytes or unfertilized eggs, are moved to the ampulla of the fallopian tube (in mammals) or to the outside of the female body (e.g., in frogs and fish), where they await successful fertilization. Fertilization is the union of egg and sperm, by which maternal and paternal materials (e.g., genetic information) are combined in the fertilized egg that initiates embryonic development to term.

In this Special Issue “Oocyte Maturation and Fertilization”, authors are invited to contribute their manuscripts that will cover one or more topic of oocyte maturation and fertilization or of their surrounding biological events such as oogenesis, spermatogenesis, activation of sperm prior to fertilization, and post-fertilization early developmental processes in animals and plants.

Prof. Dr. Ken-ichi Sato
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Egg activation
  • Fertilization
  • Gamete fusion
  • Meiosis
  • Oocyte maturation
  • Oogenesis
  • Ovulation
  • Sexual reproduction
  • Sperm activation
  • Spermatogenesis

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 7531 KiB  
Article
New Data on Spermatogenic Cyst Formation and Cellular Composition of the Testis in a Marine Gastropod, Littorina saxatilis
by Sergei Iu. Demin, Dmitry S. Bogolyubov, Andrey I. Granovitch and Natalia A. Mikhailova
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020, 21(11), 3792; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21113792 - 27 May 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2394
Abstract
Knowledge of the testis structure is important for gastropod taxonomy and phylogeny, particularly for the comparative analysis of sympatric Littorina species. Observing fresh tissue and squashing fixed tissue with gradually increasing pressure, we have recently described a peculiar type of cystic spermatogenesis, rare [...] Read more.
Knowledge of the testis structure is important for gastropod taxonomy and phylogeny, particularly for the comparative analysis of sympatric Littorina species. Observing fresh tissue and squashing fixed tissue with gradually increasing pressure, we have recently described a peculiar type of cystic spermatogenesis, rare in mollusks. It has not been documented in most mollusks until now. The testis of adult males consists of numerous lobules filled with multicellular cysts containing germline cells at different stages of differentiation. Each cyst is formed by one cyst cell of somatic origin. Here, we provide evidence for the existence of two ways of cyst formation in Littorina saxatilis. One of them begins with a goniablast cyst formation; it somewhat resembles cyst formation in Drosophila testes. The second way begins with capture of a free spermatogonium by the polyploid cyst cell which is capable to move along the gonad tissues. This way of cyst formation has not been described previously. Our data expand the understanding of the diversity of spermatogenesis types in invertebrates. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Oocyte Maturation and Fertilization)
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17 pages, 3370 KiB  
Article
Effects of Ferrocenyl 4-(Imino)-1,4-Dihydro-quinolines on Xenopus laevis Prophase I - Arrested Oocytes: Survival and Hormonal-Induced M-Phase Entry
by Guillaume Marchand, Nathalie Wambang, Sylvain Pellegrini, Caroline Molinaro, Alain Martoriati, Till Bousquet, Angel Markey, Arlette Lescuyer-Rousseau, Jean-François Bodart, Katia Cailliau, Lydie Pelinski and Matthieu Marin
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020, 21(9), 3049; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21093049 - 26 Apr 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3208
Abstract
Xenopus oocytes were used as cellular and molecular sentinels to assess the effects of a new class of organometallic compounds called ferrocenyl dihydroquinolines that have been developed as potential anti-cancer agents. One ferrocenyl dihydroquinoline compound exerted deleterious effects on oocyte survival after 48 [...] Read more.
Xenopus oocytes were used as cellular and molecular sentinels to assess the effects of a new class of organometallic compounds called ferrocenyl dihydroquinolines that have been developed as potential anti-cancer agents. One ferrocenyl dihydroquinoline compound exerted deleterious effects on oocyte survival after 48 h of incubation at 100 μM. Two ferrocenyl dihydroquinoline compounds had an inhibitory effect on the resumption of progesterone induced oocyte meiosis, compared to controls without ferrocenyl groups. In these inhibited oocytes, no MPF (Cdk1/cyclin B) activity was detected by western blot analysis as shown by the lack of phosphorylation of histone H3. The dephosphorylation of the inhibitory Y15 residue of Cdk1 occurred but cyclin B was degraded. Moreover, two apoptotic death markers, the active caspase 3 and the phosphorylated histone H2, were detected. Only 7-chloro-1-ferrocenylmethyl-4-(phenylylimino)-1,4-dihydroquinoline (8) did not show any toxicity and allowed the assembly of a histologically normal metaphase II meiotic spindle while inhibiting the proliferation of cancer cell lines with a low IC50, suggesting that this compound appears suitable as an antimitotic agent. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Oocyte Maturation and Fertilization)
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Figure 1

9 pages, 750 KiB  
Article
Sperm IZUMO1-Dependent Gamete Fusion Influences Male Fertility in Mice
by Takako Saito, Ikuo Wada and Naokazu Inoue
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2019, 20(19), 4809; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms20194809 - 27 Sep 2019
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3447
Abstract
Sperm–egg fusion is accomplished through the interaction of a specific set of membrane proteins in each gamete: sperm IZUMO1 and oocyte JUNO. Recently, we found that alternative splicing of the Izumo1 gene generates a novel IZUMO1 isoform (IZUMO1_v2). Here, we obtained four mouse [...] Read more.
Sperm–egg fusion is accomplished through the interaction of a specific set of membrane proteins in each gamete: sperm IZUMO1 and oocyte JUNO. Recently, we found that alternative splicing of the Izumo1 gene generates a novel IZUMO1 isoform (IZUMO1_v2). Here, we obtained four mouse lines, having graded different levels of IZUMO1 protein by combining an original IZUMO1 (IZUMO1_v1) knockout with IZUMO1-null (both IZUMO1_v1 and _v2 disrupted) genetic background, in order to determine how the quantity of IZUMO1 influences male fertility. Subsequently, we clarified that the signal intensity from two quantitative assays, western blot and immunostaining analyses with a monoclonal antibody against mouse IZUMO1, were strongly correlated with average litter size. These results suggest that evaluating IZUMO1 protein levels is useful for predicting fecundity, and is a suitable test for male fertility. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Oocyte Maturation and Fertilization)
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15 pages, 2018 KiB  
Article
In Vitro Reconstruction of Xenopus Oocyte Ovulation
by Alexander A. Tokmakov, Yuta Matsumoto, Takumi Isobe and Ken-Ichi Sato
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2019, 20(19), 4766; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms20194766 - 26 Sep 2019
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3425
Abstract
Progesterone is widely used to induce maturation of isolated fully grown oocytes of the African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis. However, the hormone fails to release oocytes from the layer of surrounding follicle cells. Here, we report that maturation and follicle rupture can [...] Read more.
Progesterone is widely used to induce maturation of isolated fully grown oocytes of the African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis. However, the hormone fails to release oocytes from the layer of surrounding follicle cells. Here, we report that maturation and follicle rupture can be recapitulated in vitro by treating isolated follicular oocytes with progesterone and low doses of the matrix metalloproteinase (MMP), collagenase, which are ineffective in the absence of the steroid. Using this in vitro ovulation model, we demonstrate that germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) and oocyte liberation from ovarian follicles occur synchronously during ovulation. Inhibition of the MAPK pathway in these experimental settings suppresses both GVBD and follicular rupture, whereas inhibition of MMP activity delays follicular rupture without affecting GVBD. These results highlight importance of MAPK and MMP activities in the ovulation process and provide the first evidence for their involvement in the release of oocytes from ovarian follicles in frogs. The in vitro ovulation model developed in our study can be employed for further dissection of ovulation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Oocyte Maturation and Fertilization)
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19 pages, 11544 KiB  
Article
ProTAME Arrest in Mammalian Oocytes and Embryos Does Not Require Spindle Assembly Checkpoint Activity
by Lenka Radonova, Tereza Svobodova, Michal Skultety, Ondrej Mrkva, Lenka Libichova, Paula Stein and Martin Anger
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2019, 20(18), 4537; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms20184537 - 13 Sep 2019
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3475
Abstract
In both mitosis and meiosis, metaphase to anaphase transition requires the activity of a ubiquitin ligase known as anaphase promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C). The activation of APC/C in metaphase is under the control of the checkpoint mechanism, called the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC), which [...] Read more.
In both mitosis and meiosis, metaphase to anaphase transition requires the activity of a ubiquitin ligase known as anaphase promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C). The activation of APC/C in metaphase is under the control of the checkpoint mechanism, called the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC), which monitors the correct attachment of all kinetochores to the spindle. It has been shown previously in somatic cells that exposure to a small molecule inhibitor, prodrug tosyl-l-arginine methyl ester (proTAME), resulted in cell cycle arrest in metaphase, with low APC/C activity. Interestingly, some reports have also suggested that the activity of SAC is required for this arrest. We focused on the characterization of proTAME inhibition of cell cycle progression in mammalian oocytes and embryos. Our results show that mammalian oocytes and early cleavage embryos show dose-dependent metaphase arrest after exposure to proTAME. However, in comparison to the somatic cells, we show here that the proTAME-induced arrest in these cells does not require SAC activity. Our results revealed important differences between mammalian oocytes and early embryos and somatic cells in their requirements of SAC for APC/C inhibition. In comparison to the somatic cells, oocytes and embryos show much higher frequency of aneuploidy. Our results are therefore important for understanding chromosome segregation control mechanisms, which might contribute to the premature termination of development or severe developmental and mental disorders of newborns. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Oocyte Maturation and Fertilization)
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