Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the E1 activating enzyme UBA2 on the expression of the SUMO-1 protein during in vitro maturation (IVM) of pig oocytes and embryonic development. In the 5 μg/ml UBA2 treatment group, the expression of the anti-apoptotic gene Bcl-2 and the embryo cleavage rate was significantly increased, while the proapoptotic gene Bax was significantly reduced. When 10 μg/ml UBA2 was added, the in vitro maturation rate, blastocyst rate, and SUMO-1 protein content of oocytes increased significantly (p < .05), and the expression of proapoptotic gene Caspase3 was significantly decreased (p < .05), while the viability of cumulus cells was extremely significantly reduced (p < .01). In summary, UBA2 can regulate the content of the SUMO-1 protein in mature pig oocytes in vitro, which in turn affects the maturation rate of oocytes, expression of apoptosis genes, cumulus cell viability, and the development of embryos after fertilization.