Differential constitutive expression of interferon genes in early mouse embryos

✍ Scribed by Eileen Riego; Aimeé Pérez; Rebeca Martínez; Fidel O. Castro; Ricardo Lleonart; José de la Fuente

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 963 KB
• Volume: 41
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1040-452X
• DOI: 10.1002/mrd.1080410206

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Recent evidence suggests that several processes during mammalian embryogenesis may be regulated by IFNs or IFN‐like molecules. With the use of MAPPing, the simultaneous presence of transcripts homologous to IFN‐α, IFN‐β, IRF‐1, and IRF‐2 was examined in mouse embryos and in embryonal carcinoma (EC) P19 cells, which are equivalent to epiblast cells of the early postimplantation blastocyst. Transcripts for IFN‐α, but not for IFN‐β, were detected as maternal transcripts in the ovulated oocyte and persisted over early embryogenesis. IRF‐1 transcripts appeared only after the first cell cleavage in the two‐cell stage embryo. IRF‐2 transcripts were analyzed only in EC P19 cells and were found in both undifferentiated (D^−^) and differentiated (D^+^) cells. The IFN‐α transcripts present in (D^−^) P19 cells were cloned and the partial cDNA sequences determined. Mu IFN‐αA and a new Mu IFN‐α species (Mu IFN‐α12) were isolated from (D^−^) P19 cells. The presence of constitutive IFN‐α transcripts in early mouse embryos suggests a role for these molecules during embryogenesis. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.