Storage temperature dictates the ability of chicken embryos to successfully resume development by regulating expression of blastulation and gastrulation genes
The avian embryo has a remarkable ability that allows it to suspend its development during blastulation for a long time at low temperatures, and to resume normal development when incubated. This ability is used by poultry hatcheries to store eggs prior to incubation. We have previously found that th...
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Published in | Frontiers in physiology Vol. 13; p. 960061 |
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Main Authors | , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Switzerland
Frontiers Media S.A
16.12.2022
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | The avian embryo has a remarkable ability that allows it to suspend its development during blastulation for a long time at low temperatures, and to resume normal development when incubated. This ability is used by poultry hatcheries to store eggs prior to incubation. We have previously found that this ability correlates with the temperature during storage; embryos recover much better following prolonged storage at 12°C rather than at 18°C. However, the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying these differences are poorly understood. To successfully resume development following storage, the embryo has to shift from the blastulation phase to gastrulation. Several genes are known to partake in the blastulation-to-gastrulation transition under normal conditions, such as the pluripotency-related genes
that are expressed during blastulation, and the gastrulation-regulating genes
and
. However, their expression and activity following storage is unknown. To elucidate the molecular mechanisms that initiate the ability to successfully transit from blastulation to gastrulation following storage, embryos were stored for 28 days at 12°C or 18°C, and were assessed either prior to incubation, 12, or 18 h of incubation at 37.8°C. Immediately following storage at 18°C group showed remarkable impaired morphology compared to the blastoderm of the 12°C group and of non-stored control embryos. Concurrently with these, expression of
and
was maintained following storage at 12°C similar to the control group, but was significantly reduced upon storage at 18°C. Nevertheless, when the 18°C-stored embryos were incubated, the morphology and the reduced genes were reverted to resemble those of the 12°C group. At variance, key gastrulation genes,
and its downstream effector
(
), which were similarly expressed in the control and the 12°C group, were not restored in the 18°C embryos following incubation. Notably, ectopic administration of Activin rescued
and
expression in the 18°C group, indicating that these embryos maintain the potential to initiate. Collectively, this study suggests a temperature-dependent mechanisms that direct the transition from blastulation to gastrulation. These mechanisms promote a successful developmental resumption following prolonged storage at low temperatures. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Serdar Özlü, Ankara University, Turkey This article was submitted to Avian Physiology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Physiology Reviewed by: Sophie Réhault-Godbert, Institut National de recherche pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement (INRAE), France Edited by: Servet Yalcin, Ege University, Turkey |
ISSN: | 1664-042X 1664-042X |
DOI: | 10.3389/fphys.2022.960061 |