Expression patterns and biological function of BCL2L10 during mouse preimplantation development

BCL2-like 10 (BCL2L10) is abundantly expressed in mammalian oocytes and plays a crucial role in the completion of oocyte meiosis. However, the expression patterns of BCL2L10 and its biological functions during preimplantation development have not been well characterized. Here, we investigated the spatiotemporal expressions of Bcl2l10 during mouse preimplantation development using RT-qPCR and immunofluorescence and its biological function using siRNA and morpholino injection into pronuclear embryos. Results from RT-qPCR showed that Bcl2l10 was highly expressed in the metaphase Ⅱ-stage oocytes and pronuclear-stage embryos, but expression markedly decreased from the two-cell stage onwards and was no longer detected at the four-cell stage and beyond. Immunofluorescence staining showed that BCL2L10 was detectable throughout preimplantation development and localized in the cytoplasm and nuclei. Knocking down Bcl2l10 resulted in a reduced blastocyst formation rate (P < 0.01) and decreased expression of OCT4, NANOG, and SOX17 (P < 0.05). We concluded that the role of BCL2L10 is strongly associated with developmental competence of preimplantation mouse embryos.