title: In vitro development and mitochondrial fate of macaca-rabbit cloned embryos.
abstract: Interspecies cloning may be used as an effective method to conserve highly endangered species and to support the development of non-human primate animal models for studying therapeutic cloning and nuclear-cytoplasm interaction. The use of the monkey model for biomedical research can avoid legal, ethical, and experimental limitations encountered in a clinical situation. We describe in this study the in vitro development of macaca-rabbit embryos produced by fusing macaca fibroblasts with enucleated rabbit oocytes and examine the fate of mitochondrial DNA in these embryos. We show that macaca-rabbit cloned embryos can develop to the blastocyst stage when cultured in vitro in HECM(10) +10% FBS and that mitochondrial DNA derived from donor somatic cells was detectable in cloned embryos throughout preimplantation development. These results suggest that (1) macaca fibroblast nuclei can dedifferentiate in enucleated metaphase II rabbit oocytes; (2) HECM(10) +10% FBS can break through the development block and support the development of macaca-rabbit cloned embryos to blastocysts; and (3) donor-cell-derived mitochondrial DNA is not eliminated until blastocyst stage.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Cai-Xia
authors.initials: CX
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Zhi-Ming
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Duan-Cheng
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.forename: Qing-Yuan
authors.initials: QY
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Ke-Ying
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Li-Sheng
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yu-Qi
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Zhao-Hui
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Kou
authors.forename: Da-Yuan
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D033481:Chromosomes, Mammalian; D019976:Cloning, Organism / Q000379:methods*; D046508:Culture Techniques; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000032:analysis*; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000502:physiology*; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development; D005260:Female; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000502:physiology; D008253:Macaca mulatta / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics; D053652:Nuclear Transfer Techniques; D009865:Oocytes / Q000502:physiology; D011817:Rabbits / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial