title: Nuclear cloning, stem cells, and genomic reprogramming.
abstract: The generation of adult animals by nuclear cloning from adult donor cells is extremely inefficient, with most clones dying soon after implantation. In contrast, cloning from embryonic stem cell donor nuclei is significanty more efficient than from adult donor cells. However, regardless of donor cell type, all clones that survive to birth and beyond suffer serious phenotypic and gene expression abnormalities. All available evidence is consistent with the notion that the anomalous phenotypes of cloned animals are caused by faulty epigenetic reprogramming of the donor nucleus. Faulty reprogramming appears to be caused by the cloning process itself as well as by the epigenetic state of the donor nucleus. In contrast to reproductive cloning, faulty reprogramming of the donor nucleus does not tend to interfere with the application of nuclear transfer technology for therapeutic purposes (therapeutic cloning).
authors.affiliation: Whitehead Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. jeanisch@wi.mit.edu
authors.forename: Rudolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jeanisch
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Eggan
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Humpherys
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rideout
authors.forename: Konrad
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hochedlinger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000235:genetics*; D019976:Cloning, Organism; D004303:Dosage Compensation, Genetic; D015870:Gene Expression; D018392:Genomic Imprinting; D051379:Mice; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism*