title: Recent advancements in cloning by somatic cell nuclear transfer.
abstract: Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) cloning is the sole reproductive engineering technology that endows the somatic cell genome with totipotency. Since the first report on the birth of a cloned sheep from adult somatic cells in 1997, many technical improvements in SCNT have been made by using different epigenetic approaches, including enhancement of the levels of histone acetylation in the chromatin of the reconstructed embryos. Although it will take a considerable time before we fully understand the nature of genomic programming and totipotency, we may expect that somatic cell cloning technology will soon become broadly applicable to practical purposes, including medicine, pharmaceutical manufacturing and agriculture. Here we review recent progress in somatic cell cloning, with a special emphasis on epigenetic studies using the laboratory mouse as a model.
authors.affiliation: RIKEN BioResource Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. ogura@rtc.riken.go.jp
authors.forename: Atsuo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ogura
authors.forename: Kimiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Teruhiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wakayama
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D065150:Cellular Reprogramming; D019976:Cloning, Organism / Q000379:methods*; D004624:Embryo Transfer / Q000379:methods; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000187:drug effects / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D047108:Embryonic Development; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D057890:Epigenomics / Q000379:methods; D005854:Germ Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D056284:Histone Deacetylase 1 / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006657:Histones / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006877:Hydroxamic Acids / Q000494:pharmacology; D040582:Inheritance Patterns; D051379:Mice; D053652:Nuclear Transfer Techniques; D049951:X Chromosome Inactivation
chemical_list: D006657:Histones; D006877:Hydroxamic Acids; C012589:trichostatin A; C484389:Hdac1 protein, mouse; D056284:Histone Deacetylase 1