Functional role of increased acetylated tubulin in porcine oocyte microtubule structure, meiotic maturation and embryogenesis

Abstract Acetylated microtubule improves porcine oocyte microtubule structure, meiotic maturation and subsequent embryonic development. HDAC6 can specifically deacetylate α-tubulin in assembled microtubules, increased acetylated microtubule treatment with tubacin, a HDAC6-selective inhibitor, is beneficial for porcine oocytes maturation and early embryogenesis. Here it is shown that α-tubulin acetylation gradually decreased from MI to IVF pronuclear stage. The increased acetylation of α-tubulin significantly reduced the abnormal rate of microtubules, furthermore, the proportion of mitochondria in the vicinity of IVF nucleus was significantly enhanced in MI and MII stages. The expression levels of microtubule assembly genes ( TUBA1A , α TAT1 and MAP2 ) significantly up-regulated in MI and MII stages. In addition, the oocytes with high acetylation level of α-tubulin significantly improved maturation, syngamy and IVF blastocyst formation compared with the control oocytes. In present study, these indicate functional role of increased acetylated α-tubulin advances normal spindle formation and mitochondrial concentration, moreover, improves porcine maturation, syngamy and preimplantation embryo development.