title: Asymmetric reprogramming capacity of parental pronuclei in mouse zygotes.
abstract: It has been demonstrated that reprogramming factors are sequestered in the pronuclei of zygotes after fertilization, because zygotes enucleated at the M phase instead of interphase of the first mitosis can support the development of cloned embryos. However, the contribution of the parental pronucleus derived from either the sperm or the oocyte in reprogramming remains elusive. Here, we demonstrate that the parental pronuclei have asymmetric reprogramming capacities and that the reprogramming factors reside predominantly in the male pronucleus. As a result, only female pronucleus-depleted (FPD) mouse zygotes can reprogram somatic cells to a pluripotent state and support the full-term development of cloned embryos; male pronucleus-depleted (MPD) zygotes fail to support somatic cell reprogramming. We further demonstrate that fusion of an additional male pronucleus into a zygote greatly enhances reprogramming efficiency. Our data provide a clue to further identify critical reprogramming factors in the male pronucleus.
authors.affiliation: College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100094, China; National Institute of Biological Sciences, NIBS, Beijing 102206, China; School of Life Sciences and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China.
authors.forename: Wenqiang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Biological Sciences, NIBS, Beijing 102206, China; School of Life Sciences and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China.
authors.forename: Jiqing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Biological Sciences, NIBS, Beijing 102206, China; School of Life Sciences and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China.
authors.forename: Xiaochen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Kou
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Biological Sciences, NIBS, Beijing 102206, China.
authors.forename: Yonghua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Biological Sciences, NIBS, Beijing 102206, China.
authors.forename: Haibo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Biological Sciences, NIBS, Beijing 102206, China; School of Life Sciences and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China.
authors.forename: Yanhong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Biological Sciences, NIBS, Beijing 102206, China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Biological Sciences, NIBS, Beijing 102206, China; School of Life Sciences and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China.
authors.forename: Wenteng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China. Electronic address: hanzm@ioz.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Zhiming
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Biological Sciences, NIBS, Beijing 102206, China; School of Life Sciences and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China. Electronic address: gaoshaorong@tongji.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Shaorong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000502:physiology; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D065150:Cellular Reprogramming / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D019976:Cloning, Organism / Q000379:methods; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D057890:Epigenomics; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008938:Mitosis / Q000502:physiology; D053652:Nuclear Transfer Techniques; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D015053:Zygote / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*