In all the studies of mammalian species, chromatin in the germinal vesicle (GV) is initially decondensed with the nucleolus not surrounded by heterochromatin (the NSN configurations). During oocyte growth, the GV chromatin condenses into perinucleolar rings (the SN configurations) or other corresponding configurations with or without the perinucleolar rings, depending on species. During oocyte maturation, the GV chromatin is synchronized in a less condensed state before germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) in species that has been minutely studied. As not all the species show the SN configuration and gene transcription always stops at the late stage of oocyte growth, it is suggested that a thorough condensation of GV chromatin is essential for transcriptional repression. Because the GV chromatin status is highly correlated with oocyte competence, oocytes must end the NSN configuration before they gain the full meiotic competence and they must take on the SN/corresponding configurations and stop gene transcription before they acquire the competence for early embryonic development. In this study, we firstly investigated whether the layer of cumulus cells and size of oocytes could determine chromatin configurations in porcine oocytes. Using Hoechst3342 staining, the GV nucleolus and chromatin of porcine oocytes was classified into SN and NSN configurations. Next, we examined the changes in GV chromatin configurations during growth and maturation of porcine oocytes. In addition, the maturation and parthenogenetic development abilities in vitro were significant different between the SN and NSN configurations oocytes. These results indicated that chromatin changes in GV oocytes affect the development potential of parthenogenetic embryos.

In vitro production of porcine embryos, including in vitro maturation of oocytes followed by in vitro fertilization and in vitro culture, may result in live offspring, but it is still associated with great inefficiencies. In mammalian oocytes, acquisition of meiotic competence coincides with a decrease in general transcriptional activity at the end of the oocyte growth phase. In this study, we investigated the expression and sub‐cellular localization of CDK9, a RNA polymerase II CTD kinase during pig oocyte growth. Localization and expression of components involved in mRNA and rRNA transcription were assessed by immunocytochemistry in growing and fully‐grown oocytes. In addition, meiotic resumption, germinal vesicle breakdown and nuclear transcription were analyzed in oocytes cultured in presence of a potent CDK9 inhibitor, flavopiridol. Our analyses, demonstrated that CDK9 became co‐localized partially with phosphorylated Pol II CTD and mRNA splicing complexes. Surprisingly, CDK9 was co‐localized with Pol Ispecific transcription factor, UBF, and gradually localized in nucleolar peripheries at the final steps of oocyte growth. Treatment with flavopiridol resulted in arrest in meiotic resumption, germinal vesicle breakdown as well as a decline in global transcription. All together, this data suggest that CDK9 has a dual role in both Pol I‐ and Pol II‐dependent transcription in pig oocyte growth.