Production of identical twin and triplet mice by nuclear transplantation.
Transplantation of a single nucleus from two- or four-cell embryos into one of the enucleated blastomeres of a two-cell embryo resulted in successful production of identical triplet and twin mice. The proportion of reconstituted embryos that developed in blastocysts was 71% (84/118) when four-cell embryos were used as donors of nuclei; 10 sets of quadruplet and nine sets each of triplet and twin blastocysts were obtained by this technique. After transfer to recipients, 30% (18/61) developed to term, and one set of identical triplet and four sets of identical twin mice were obtained. When two-cell embryos were used as donors of nuclei, 79 (95%) sets of twin embryos developed to blastocysts. Of 38 twin blastocysts transferred to recipients, 21 sets (55%) developed to term as identical twin mice. These results demonstrate that the enucleated two-cell embryo develops in vitro after transfer of a nucleus from a two- or four-cell embryo and the resultant blastocyst has high potential for development to term after transfer to a recipient.
Kono
T
T
NODAI Research Institute, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Japan.
Tsunoda
Y
Y
Nakahara
T
T
D000818:Animals; D001757:Blastomeres / Q000166:cytology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D046508:Culture Techniques; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000166:cytology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL / Q000196:embryology*; D008808:Mice, Inbred CBA / Q000196:embryology*; D053652:Nuclear Transfer Techniques