Figure 2

The effect of oocyte diameter on a) Dnmt3a, b) Dnmt3b, c) Dnmt3L and d) Dnmt1o expression. Oocytes were isolated at 10 dpp and pooled according to whether they were 20 to 50 μm or 60 to 80 μm in diameter. QRT-PCR was used to determine the relative expression of each of the enzymes in "small" (dark grey bars) vs. "big" (cross hatch bars) 10 dpp oocytes. One experiment where samples were tested in triplicate was carried out and relative expression values obtained were normalized to the level of rabbit α-globin expression for each sample and calibrated to the expression in 20 to 50 μm oocytes. For each of the enzymes investigated, the relative expression in "big" oocytes was at least 2- and up to 28-fold higher than that in "small" oocytes. Results are presented as mean ± SD. Differences between the relative expression in 20 to 50 μm and 60 to 80 μm oocytes were found to be statistically significant for each of the genes (p < 0.05).