Bioscientifica Proceedings

Abstract. During the last decade, transcriptome profiling has emerged as an efficient approach to describe and study cellular functions. The potential to survey transcript abundance for all genes offers promise to shed light on mammalian early embryogenesis. Furthermore, the report of aberrant phenotypes following the application of reproductive technologies also fueled the need to understand how embryos react, cope and adapt to their surrounding microenvironment. So far, the atypical nature of early blastomeres and the drastic transitions through which embryogenesis progresses posed and still pose numerous technical challenges such as to correctly interpret the natural fluctuation in total RNA and proteins contents. Although tedious, these technical considerations are important for data soundness and interpretation. In this review, we examine a number of transcriptomic surveys performed on blastocysts and demonstrate that several consistent observations have transpired that alter the conceptual issues regarding the definition of embryonic normalcy. Moreover, the need to complement the study of gene expression with profiling epigenomic marks is opening new perspectives that will also be discussed.

© 2014 Society for Reproduction and Fertility