K (lysine) acetyltransferase 8 (KAT8), an
acetyltransferase that specifically catalyzes
histone H4 lysine 16 acetylation, is critical for key biological processes including cell proliferation and maintenance of
genome stability. However, the role of KAT8 during preimplantation development in pigs remains unclear. Results herein showed that KAT8
mRNA is maternally derived and it is required for successful development of early embryos. An abundance of KAT8 transcripts are expressed in oocytes and its abundance continuously decreases throughout meiotic maturation and preimplantation development. In addition, KAT8 expression is insensitive to
RNA polymerase II inhibitor after embryonic genome activation, suggesting its maternal origin. The levels of KAT8
mRNA and H4K16 acetylation were effectively knocked down by
siRNA microinjection. Knockdown of KAT8 significantly reduced the blastocyst formation rate and total cell number per blastocyst. Analysis of trophectoderm lineage and marker of
DNA double-strand breaks revealed that the impaired developmental competence and quality of embryos might be attributed to defects in both the first two lineages development and genome integrity. Taken together, these results demonstrate that maternal KAT8 is indispensible for porcine early embryo development potentially through maintaining the proliferation of the first two lineages and genome integrity.