Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2025, Vol. 56 ›› Issue (1): 222-231.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2025.01.021

• Animal Biotechnology and Reproduction • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Exploring the Effect of Vitrification on Genome Methylation Level of Porcine Parthenogenetic Activation Blastocysts by scWGBS

YANG Baigao1,2(), XU Jiehuan3, ZHANG Liang1, LONG Xi1, DAI Jianjun3, ZHAO Xueming2,*, PAN Hongmei1,*()   

  1. 1. Chongqing Academy of Animal Sciences, Chongqing 402460, China
    2. Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
    3. Institute of Animal Science and Veterinary Science, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai 201106, China
  • Received:2024-07-30 Online:2025-01-23 Published:2025-01-18
  • Contact: ZHAO Xueming, PAN Hongmei E-mail:Yangbaigao915@163.com;panhm_2118@163.com

Abstract:

This study aimed to investigate the effect of vitrification on genome methylation level of porcine parthenogenetic activation (PA) blastocysts. The porcine PA blastocysts on day 6 were used for vitrification-thawing experiments using conventional vitrification solution (vitrification group Ⅰ) and improved vitrification solution (vitrification group Ⅱ). Three blastocysts with good morphology were selected from each group for single cell whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (scWGBS) to analyze the genomic methylation levels changes in blastocysts. The results showed that compared with the fresh group, the genomic methylation levels of porcine PA blastocysts in the vitrification group Ⅰ were significantly reduced (18% vs. 20.9%, P < 0.01), while the vitrification group Ⅱ were significantly increased (21.5% vs. 20.9%, P < 0.05). Compared with the fresh group, a total of 2 717 differential methylation regions (DMRs) were identified in the vitrification group Ⅰ, and a total of 1 964 DMRs were identified in the vitrification group Ⅱ. Gene function enrichment analysis showed that vitrification caused disturbances in the methylation levels of genes related to biological processes such as embryonic development, ATP metabolism, MAPK signaling pathway, and Wnt signaling pathway. In the vitrification Ⅱ group, biological processes such as the Hippo signaling pathway, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, and mTOR signaling pathway were more active. In summary, vitrification changes the genomic methylation level of porcine PA blastocysts, which may damage the development of porcine PA blastocysts by disrupting the methylation levels of genes related to embryonic development, ATP metabolism, MAPK signaling pathway, and Wnt signaling pathway, etc. In addition, the Hippo signaling pathway, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, and mTOR signaling pathway can be used as candidate pathways to alleviate vitrification injury.

Key words: pig, parthenogenetic activation, blastocyst, vitrification, scWGBS

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