Rabbit oocyte cytoplasm supports development of nuclear transfer embryos derived from the somatic cells of the camel and Tibetan antelope.
This study was designed to examine the ability of rabbit metaphase II oocyte cytoplasm to support the development of interspecies nuclear transfer embryos reconstructed using donor nuclei from different species. Skin fibroblast cells from a camel and Tibetan antelope were used as donor nuclei. As a first step, we investigated the efficiency of different activation protocols by comparing the parthenogenetic development of rabbit oocytes. The protocol that yielded the highest blastocyst rate was used to activate the reconstructed embryos in nuclear transfer experiments. In addition, the effect of donor cell serum starvation on the development of the reconstructed embryo was also examined. More than half of the karyoplast-cytoplast couplets could be fused, and about one third of the reconstructed embryos were capable of completing first cleavage, regardless of the species of donor nuclei. Some of the cleaving reconstructed embryos were even capable of progressing further and developing to the blastocyst stage (1.4-8.7% for the Tibetan antelope and 0-7.5% for the camel, respectively). Our results suggest that the mechanisms regulating early embryo development may be conserved among mammalian species and some factors existing in rabbit oocyte cytoplasm for somatic nucleus reprogramming and dedifferentiation may not be species-specific. Rabbit oocyte cytoplasm can reprogram donor nuclei regardless of the origin of the nucleus and support in vitro development to an advanced stage.
State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Zhen-Jun
ZJ
Zhao
Ying-Chun
YC
Ouyang
Chang-Long
CL
Nan
Zi-Li
ZL
Lei
Xiang-Fen
XF
Song
Qing-Yuan
QY
Sun
Da-Yuan
DY
Chen
D000818:Animals; D000866:Antelopes; D001755:Blastocyst; D002162:Camelus; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000502:physiology*; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian; D047108:Embryonic Development; D005347:Fibroblasts; D053652:Nuclear Transfer Techniques; D009865:Oocytes; D011817:Rabbits; D013045:Species Specificity; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous