Nuclear factor-kappa-B-inhibitor alpha (NFKBIA) is a developmental marker of NF-kappa B/p65 activation during in vitro oocyte maturation and early embryogenesis

BACKGROUND: The oocyte-to-embryo transition (OET) requires a co-ordinated transcriptional programme acting through evolutionarily conserved events, and transcription factors (TFs) are known to control these processes. Here, we focus on nuclear factor (NF)-kappa B, a TF involved in several cellular processes, studying NF kappa B-inhibitor (NFKBIA) mRNA and its protein product, I kappa B alpha, during OET. NFKBIA and IkBa are part of a regulatory loop, as IkBa is the major down-regulator of NF-kappa B activation while NFKBIA transcription is activated by NF-kappa B.