title: Interspecies nuclear transfer of Tibetan antelope using caprine oocyte as recipient.
abstract: Interspecies nuclear transfer is an invalulable tool for studying nucleus-cytoplasm interactions; and at the same time, it provides a possible alternative to clone endangered animals whose oocytes are difficult to obtain. In the present study, we investigated the possibility of cloning Tibetan antelope embryos using abattoir-derived caprine oocytes as recipients. Effects of culture conditions, enucleation timing, and donor cell passages on the in vitro development of Tibetan antelope-goat cloned embryos were studied. Maternal to zygotic transition timing of interspecies Tibetan antelope embryos was also investigated using two types of cloned embryos, Tibetan antelope-rabbit and Tibetan antelope-goat embryos. Our results indicate that: (1) goat oocyte is able to reprogram somatic cells of different genus and supports development to blastocyst in vitro. (2) Coculture system supported the development of Tibetan antelope-goat embryos to blastocyst rate stage (4.0%), while CR1aa alone did not. (3) When MII phase enucleated caprine cytoplast and TII phase enucleated caprine cytoplast were used as recipients, the fusion rate and blastocyst rate of hybrid embryos were not statistically different (73.9% vs. 67.4%; 4.0% vs. 1.1%). (4) When donor cells at 3-8 passages were used, 2.9% hybrid embryos developed to blastocysts, while none developed to blastocysts when cells at 10-17 passages were used. (5) There may be a morula-to-blastocyst block for Tibetan antelope-goat, while there may be an 8- to 16-cell block for Tibetan antelope-rabbit embryos.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Zhen-Jun
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Rui-Chang
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Heng-Hua
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Quan-Jun
authors.initials: QJ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Man-Xi
authors.initials: MX
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Ying-Chun
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Ouyang
authors.forename: Chang-Long
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Nan
authors.forename: Zi-Li
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.forename: Xiang-Fen
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Qing-Yuan
authors.initials: QY
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Da-Yuan
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000866:Antelopes; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D033481:Chromosomes, Mammalian / Q000737:chemistry; D019976:Cloning, Organism / Q000379:methods*; D046149:Embryo Culture Techniques; D004624:Embryo Transfer; D005260:Female; D006041:Goats; D053652:Nuclear Transfer Techniques; D009865:Oocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development; D011247:Pregnancy; D011270:Pregnancy, Animal; D011817:Rabbits; D013997:Time Factors