Abstract
Mammalian pre-implantation embryos represent a highly dynamic experimental model for comparative studies of nuclear structure and functions in the context of gradual reactivation of transcription. Here, we present details of the methods that allow localizing RNA polymerase II in mouse pre-implantation embryos with specific antibodies, using fluorescent/confocal and electron microscopy. We stress the special aspects of immunolabeling protocols in respect to the embryonic material. We made a special emphasis on the essential steps preceding the immunocytochemical experiments. In particular, we consider the procedures of female hormonal stimulation and embryo collection. The described approaches are also applicable to study other nuclear proteins.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bogolyubova IO, Bogolyubov DS (2014) Nuclear distribution of RNA polymerase II and mRNA processing machinery in early mammalian embryos. Biomed Res Int 2014:681596
Fakan S, Odartchenko N (1980) Ultrastructural organization of the cell nucleus in early mouse embryos. Biol Cell 37:211–218
Li L, Lu X, Dean J (2014) The maternal to zygotic transition in mammals. Mol Asp Med 34:919–938
Dahmus ME (1996) Reversible phosphorylation of the C-terminal domain of RNA polymerase II. J Biol Chem 271:19009–19012
Bellier S, Chastant S, Adenot P, Vincent M, Renard JP, Bensaude O (1997) Nuclear translocation and carboxyl-terminal domain phosphorylation of RNA polymerase II delineate the two phases of zygotic gene activation in mammalian embryos. EMBO J 16:6250–6262
Gall JG, Murphy C, Wu Z (1991) Lampbrush chromosomes. Methods Cell Biol 36:149–166
Thompson NE, Steinberg TH, Aronson DB, Burgess RR (1989) Inhibition of in vivo and in vitro transcription by monoclonal antibodies prepared against wheat germ RNA polymerase II that react with the heptapeptide repeat of eukaryotic RNA polymerase II. J Biol Chem 264:11511–11520
Kim W-Y, Dahmus ME (1986) Immunocytochemical analysis of mammalian RNA polymerase II subspecies. Stability and relative in vivo concentration. J Biol Chem 261:14219–14225
Bregman DB, Du L, van der Zee S, Warren SL (1995) Transcription-dependent redistribution of the large subunit of RNA polymerase II to discrete nuclear domains. J Cell Biol 129:287–298
Doyle O, Corden JL, Murphy C, Gall JG (2002) The distribution of RNA polymerase II largest subunit (RPB1) in the Xenopus germinal vesicle. J Struct Biol 140:154–166
Bogolyubova IO, Bogoliubova NA, Bogolyubov DS, Parfenov VN (2006) Nuclear structure in early mouse embryos: a comparative ultrastructural and immunocytochemical study with special emphasis on the “2-cell block in vitro”. Tissue Cell 38:389–398
Misteli T, Cáceres JF, Spector DL (1997) The dynamics of a pre-mRNA splicing factor in living cells. Nature 387:523–527
Fakan S, van Driel R (2007) The perichromatin region: a functional compartment in the nucleus that determines large-scale chromatin folding. Semin Cell Dev Biol 18:676–681
Daguenet E, Baguet A, Degot S, Schmidt U, Alpy F, Wendling C, Spiegelhalter C, Kessler P, Rio MC, Le Hir H, Bertrand E, Tomasetto C (2012) Perispeckles are major assembly sites for the exon junction core complex. Mol Biol Cell 23:1765–1782
Fakan S (1994) Perichromatin fibrils are in situ forms of nascent transcripts. Trends Cell Biol 4:86–90
Cmarko D, Verschure PJ, Martin TE, Dahmus ME, Krause S, Fu X-D, van Driel R, Fakan S (1999) Ultrastructural analysis of transcription and splicing in the cell nucleus after bromo-UTP microinjection. Mol Biol Cell 10:211–223
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by the granting program “Molecular and Cell Biology” of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant No. 15-04-01857).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media LLC
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Bogolyubova, I.O., Bogolyubov, D.S. (2017). Detection of RNA Polymerase II in Mouse Embryos During Zygotic Genome Activation Using Immunocytochemistry. In: Lee, K. (eds) Zygotic Genome Activation. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1605. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6988-3_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6988-3_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-6986-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-6988-3
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols