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Through a number of human studies, PTSD is known to affect DNA methylation of CpG islands in several genes involved in numerous activities, including stress responses and neurotransmitter activity. CpGs are used to describe cytosine-guanine adjacent nucleotides within the same strand of DNA.
An oocyte (/ ˈ oʊ ə s aɪ t /, oöcyte, or ovocyte is a female gametocyte or germ cell involved in reproduction.In other words, it is an immature ovum, or egg cell.An oocyte is produced in a female fetus in the ovary during female gametogenesis.
When there is too much damage, apoptosis is triggered in order to protect the organism from potentially harmful cells.7 p53, also known as a tumor suppressor gene, is a major regulatory protein in the DNA damage response system which binds directly to the promoters of its target genes. p53 acts primarily at the G1 checkpoint (controlling the G1 ...
Oocyte abnormalities can be caused by a variety of genetic factors affecting different stages in meiosis. [1] Moreover, ageing is associated with oocyte abnormalities since higher maternal age is associated with oocytes with a reduced gene expression of spindle assembly checkpoints which are important in maintaining stability in the genome.
The meiotic division I produces 2 cells differing in size: a small polar body and a large secondary oocyte. The secondary oocyte undergoes meiotic division II and that results in the formation of a second small polar body and a large mature egg, both being haploid cells. The polar bodies degenerate. [12]
Mammalian oocytes are maintained in meiotic prophase arrest for a very long time—months in mice, years in humans. Initially, the arrest is due to lack of sufficient cell cycle proteins to allow meiotic progression. However, as the oocyte grows, these proteins are synthesized, and meiotic arrest becomes dependent on cyclic AMP. [4]
In mammals, DNA methylation occurs almost exclusively at a cytosine that is followed by a guanine. Epigenetic alterations of DNA include modifications that affect gene expression, but are not caused by changes in the sequence of bases in DNA. A well-studied example of such an alteration is the methylation of DNA cytosine to form 5-methylcytosine.
Thus, although the majority of oocytes are produced in female fetuses before birth, these pre-eggs remain arrested in the dictyate stage until puberty commences and the cells complete ootidogenesis. In both mouse and human, oocyte DNA of older individuals has substantially more double-strand breaks than that of younger individuals.