title: Effect of recipient breed on delivery rate of cloned miniature pig.
abstract: The miniature pig is regarded as a better organ donor breed for xenotransplantation than other pig breeds because the size of their organs is similar to that of humans. To improve efficiency of cloned miniature pig production, we analysed the effect of breed difference between donor cells and embryo recipients on pregnancy rate and delivery rate. Cloned porcine embryos derived from domestic or miniature pig donor cells were transferred to domestic or miniature recipient pigs. Delivery rate was significantly higher when embryos reconstructed with miniature pig donor cells were transferred to miniature pig recipients as compared with that of embryos transferred to domestic pig recipients. However, pregnancy rates were similar between the two groups. The breed of donor cells, but not of embryo recipients, seems likely to affect litter size. From a 13 610 gene cDNA microarray, 1551 (11.7%) genes showed significantly different levels of expression between the fetuses of the two breeds. Vascular endothelial growth factor and c-kit ligand genes related to implantation and maintenance of pregnancy were significantly down-regulated in miniature pigs. In conclusion, the differential gene expression in fetuses interferes with proper fetal/maternal interactions, and results in late-stage pregnancy loss. Our results indicate that the miniature pig is the preferred embryo recipient breed than domestic pig for producing cloned miniature piglets.
authors.affiliation: Department of Theriogenology and Biotechnology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Ok Jae
authors.initials: OJ
authors.lastname: Koo
authors.forename: Hee Jung
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Dae Kee
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: Jung Taek
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Goo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.forename: Byeong Chun
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001947:Breeding; D019976:Cloning, Organism; D005260:Female; D053652:Nuclear Transfer Techniques; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010053:Ovary / Q000502:physiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D019089:Stem Cell Factor / Q000378:metabolism; D034421:Sus scrofa / Q000502:physiology*; D013552:Swine / Q000502:physiology*; D013556:Swine, Miniature / Q000502:physiology*; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D019089:Stem Cell Factor; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A