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Qu P, Cao W, Liu E. Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer in Rabbits. Methods Mol Biol 2023; 2647:169-181. [PMID: 37041334 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3064-8_8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/13/2023]
Abstract
Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is a technology that enables differentiated somatic cells to acquire a totipotent state, thus making it of great value in developmental biology, biomedical research, and agricultural applications. Rabbit cloning associated with transgenesis has the potential to improve the applicability of this species for disease modeling, drug testing, and production of human recombinant proteins. In this chapter, we introduce our SCNT protocol for the production of live cloned rabbits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pengxiang Qu
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
- Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of China, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Wenbin Cao
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
- Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of China, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Enqi Liu
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
- Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of China, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
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2
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Qu P, Cao W, Zhang Y, Qi J, Meng B, Liu S, Zhuang Y, Duan C, Liu E. Sperm-borne proteins improve rabbit cloning efficiency via regulating embryonic cleavage and epigenetics. Proteomics 2022; 22:e2200020. [PMID: 35779011 DOI: 10.1002/pmic.202200020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2022] [Revised: 05/25/2022] [Accepted: 06/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) shows great application value in the generation of transgenic animals, protection of endangered species, and therapeutic cloning. However, the cloning efficiency is still very low, which greatly restricts its application. Compared to fertilized embryos, cloned embryos lack the sperm proteins, which are considered to play an important role in embryonic development. Here we compared the sperm proteome, with that of donor fibroblasts and oocytes, and identified 342 proteins unique to sperm, with 42 being highly expressed. The 384 proteins were mainly enriched in the categories of post-translational modification and cytoskeletal arrangement. Extracts of soluble sperm or fibroblast proteins were injected into cloned embryos, and the result showed that injection of sperm protein significantly inhibited abnormal embryonic cleavage, significantly decreased the level of trimethylated histone H3Lys9 (H3K9me3) and the apoptotic index, and increased the inner cell mass (ICM)-to-trophectoderm (TE) ratio. More importantly, the sperm proteins also significantly enhanced the birthrate. The results of in vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrate that sperm-derived proteins improve embryo cloning efficiency. Our findings not only provide new insights into ways to overcome low cloning efficiency, but also add to the understanding of sperm protein function. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pengxiang Qu
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Centre, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.,Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of China, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Wenbin Cao
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Centre, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.,Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of China, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Yanru Zhang
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Centre, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.,Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of China, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Jia Qi
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Centre, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.,Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of China, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Bin Meng
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Centre, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.,The Assisted Reproduction Center, Northwest Women's and Children's Hospital, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Shuangqing Liu
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Centre, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Yanxin Zhuang
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Centre, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Chenjin Duan
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Centre, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Enqi Liu
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Centre, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.,Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of China, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
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3
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Shi J, Xiao L, Tan B, Luo L, Li Z, Hong L, Yang J, Cai G, Zheng E, Wu Z, Gu T. Comparative evaluation of production performances of cloned pigs derived from superior Duroc boars. Anim Reprod Sci 2022; 244:107049. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anireprosci.2022.107049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2022] [Revised: 07/22/2022] [Accepted: 07/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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4
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Liu Z, Chen Q, You X, Wu X, Liu R, Li T, Gao L, Chen X, Lei A, Zeng W, Zheng Y. Sperm-derived RNAs improve the efficiency of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) through promoting R-loop formation. Mol Reprod Dev 2022; 89:325-336. [PMID: 35734898 DOI: 10.1002/mrd.23627] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2022] [Revised: 06/15/2022] [Accepted: 06/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Mammalian sperm and oocytes are haploid cells that carry parental genetic and epigenetic information for their progeny. The cytoplasm of oocytes is also capable of reprograming somatic cells to establish totipotency through somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). However, epigenetic barriers seriously counteract SCNT reprogramming. Here, we found that sperm-derived RNAs elevated chromatin accessibility of nuclear donor cells concurrent with the appearance of increased RNA amount and decreased cell proliferation, instead of activating DNA damage response. Additionally, tri-methylation of lysine 9 on histone H3 (H3K9me3) and the H3K9 methyltransferase SUV39H2 were significantly downregulated by the sperm-derived RNA treatment. Our findings thus raise a fascinating possibility that sperm RNA-induced R-loops may activate gene expression and chromatin structure, thereby promoting SCNT reprogramming.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zidong Liu
- Department of Animal Science, Key Laboratory for Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Xianyang, Shaanxi, China
| | - Qiang Chen
- Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Shaanxi Stem Cell Engineering and Technology Center, Northwest A&F University, Xianyang, Shaanxi, China
| | - Xueni You
- Department of Animal Science, Key Laboratory for Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Xianyang, Shaanxi, China
| | - Xiaodong Wu
- Department of Animal Science, Key Laboratory for Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Xianyang, Shaanxi, China
| | - Ruifang Liu
- Department of Animal Science, Key Laboratory for Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Xianyang, Shaanxi, China
| | - Tao Li
- Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Shaanxi Stem Cell Engineering and Technology Center, Northwest A&F University, Xianyang, Shaanxi, China
| | - Leilei Gao
- Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Shaanxi Stem Cell Engineering and Technology Center, Northwest A&F University, Xianyang, Shaanxi, China
| | - Xiaoxu Chen
- Department of Animal Science, Key Laboratory for Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Xianyang, Shaanxi, China
| | - Anmin Lei
- Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Shaanxi Stem Cell Engineering and Technology Center, Northwest A&F University, Xianyang, Shaanxi, China
| | - Wenxian Zeng
- Department of Animal Science, Key Laboratory for Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Xianyang, Shaanxi, China
| | - Yi Zheng
- Department of Animal Science, Key Laboratory for Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Xianyang, Shaanxi, China
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Qu P, Zhao J, Hu H, Cao W, Zhang Y, Qi J, Meng B, Zhao J, Liu S, Ding C, Wu Y, Liu E. Loss of Renewal of Extracellular Vesicles: Harmful Effects on Embryo Development in vitro. Int J Nanomedicine 2022; 17:2301-2318. [PMID: 35615541 PMCID: PMC9126234 DOI: 10.2147/ijn.s354003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2022] [Accepted: 05/09/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Methods Results Conclusion
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Affiliation(s)
- Pengxiang Qu
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi’an Jiaotong University Health Science Centre, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China
- Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of China, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China
| | - Jinpeng Zhao
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi’an Jiaotong University Health Science Centre, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China
- Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of China, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China
| | - Huizhong Hu
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi’an Jiaotong University Health Science Centre, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China
- Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of China, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China
| | - Wenbin Cao
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi’an Jiaotong University Health Science Centre, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China
- Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of China, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China
| | - Yanru Zhang
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi’an Jiaotong University Health Science Centre, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China
- Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of China, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China
| | - Jia Qi
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi’an Jiaotong University Health Science Centre, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China
- Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of China, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China
| | - Bin Meng
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi’an Jiaotong University Health Science Centre, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China
- The Assisted Reproduction Center, Northwest Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Xi’an, People’s Republic of China
| | - Juan Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of China, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China
- Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China
| | - Shuangqing Liu
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi’an Jiaotong University Health Science Centre, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China
| | - Chong Ding
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi’an Jiaotong University Health Science Centre, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China
- Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of China, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China
| | - Yuqi Wu
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi’an Jiaotong University Health Science Centre, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China
- Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of China, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China
| | - Enqi Liu
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi’an Jiaotong University Health Science Centre, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China
- Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of China, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China
- Correspondence: Enqi Liu, Email
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Effect of ACY-1215 on cytoskeletal remodeling and histone acetylation in bovine somatic cell nuclear transfer embryos. Theriogenology 2022; 183:98-107. [DOI: 10.1016/j.theriogenology.2022.02.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2021] [Revised: 01/10/2022] [Accepted: 02/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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Cao W, Zhao J, Qu P, Liu E. Current Progress and Prospects in Rabbit Cloning. Cell Reprogram 2022; 24:63-70. [PMID: 35167365 DOI: 10.1089/cell.2021.0090] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) shows great value in the generation of transgenic animals, protection of endangered animals, and stem cell therapy. The combination of SCNT and gene editing has produced a variety of genetically modified animals for life science and medical research. Rabbits have unique advantages as transgenic bioreactors and human disease models; however, the low SCNT efficiency severely impedes the application of this technology. The difficulty in SCNT may be attributable to the abnormal reprogramming of somatic cells in rabbits. This review focuses on the abnormal reprogramming of cloned mammalian embryos and evaluates the progress and prospects of rabbit somatic cell cloning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenbin Cao
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an, China
| | - Jinpeng Zhao
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an, China
| | - Pengxiang Qu
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an, China
| | - Enqi Liu
- Laboratory Animal Center, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an, China
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Abstract
Many studies have focused on the optimization of the composition of embryo culture medium; however, there are few studies involving the effect of a culture medium changing procedure on the preimplantation development of embryos. In this study, three groups were designed: a non-renewal group, a renewal group and a half-renewal group. The levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), apoptotic index, blastocyst ratio and blastocyst total cell number were analyzed in each group. The results showed that the ROS level and the apoptotic index of blastocyst in the non-renewal group were significantly higher than in the renewal group and the half-renewal group (P < 0.05). The blastocyst ratio and blastocyst total cell number were significantly higher in the half-renewal group than that in non-renewal group and the renewal group (P < 0.05). These results demonstrated that the procedure of changing the culture medium influenced ROS level, apoptotic index, blastocyst ratio and total cell number of blastocysts. In addition, the result suggested that changing the culture medium may lead to a loss of important regulatory factors for embryos, while not changing the culture medium may lead to the accumulation of toxic substances. Half-renewal can alleviate the defects of both no renewal and renewal, and benefit embryo development. This study will be of high value as a reference for the optimization of embryo culture in vitro, and is very significant for assisted reproduction.
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Springer C, Wolf E, Simmet K. A New Toolbox in Experimental Embryology-Alternative Model Organisms for Studying Preimplantation Development. J Dev Biol 2021; 9:15. [PMID: 33918361 PMCID: PMC8167745 DOI: 10.3390/jdb9020015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2021] [Revised: 03/28/2021] [Accepted: 03/30/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Preimplantation development is well conserved across mammalian species, but major differences in developmental kinetics, regulation of early lineage differentiation and implantation require studies in different model organisms, especially to better understand human development. Large domestic species, such as cattle and pig, resemble human development in many different aspects, i.e., the timing of zygotic genome activation, mechanisms of early lineage differentiations and the period until blastocyst formation. In this article, we give an overview of different assisted reproductive technologies, which are well established in cattle and pig and make them easily accessible to study early embryonic development. We outline the available technologies to create genetically modified models and to modulate lineage differentiation as well as recent methodological developments in genome sequencing and imaging, which form an immense toolbox for research. Finally, we compare the most recent findings in regulation of the first lineage differentiations across species and show how alternative models enhance our understanding of preimplantation development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudia Springer
- Chair for Molecular Animal Breeding and Biotechnology, Gene Center and Department of Veterinary Sciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 85764 Oberschleissheim, Germany; (C.S.); (E.W.)
| | - Eckhard Wolf
- Chair for Molecular Animal Breeding and Biotechnology, Gene Center and Department of Veterinary Sciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 85764 Oberschleissheim, Germany; (C.S.); (E.W.)
- Laboratory for Functional Genome Analysis (LAFUGA), Gene Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 81377 Munich, Germany
- Center for Innovative Medical Models (CiMM), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 85764 Oberschleissheim, Germany
| | - Kilian Simmet
- Chair for Molecular Animal Breeding and Biotechnology, Gene Center and Department of Veterinary Sciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 85764 Oberschleissheim, Germany; (C.S.); (E.W.)
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Sperm-borne small RNAs improve the developmental competence of pre-implantation cloned embryos in rabbit. ZYGOTE 2021; 29:331-336. [PMID: 33685548 DOI: 10.1017/s0967199420000805] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
The low efficiency of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) greatly limits its application. Compared with the fertilized embryo, cloned embryos display abnormal epigenetic modification and other inferior developmental properties. In this study, small RNAs were isolated, and miR-34c and miR-125b were quantified by real-time PCR; results showed that these micro-RNAs were highly expressed in sperm. The test sample was divided into three groups: one was the fertilized group, one was the SCNT control group (NT-C group), and the third group consisted of SCNT embryos injected with sperm-borne small RNA (NT-T group). The level of tri-methylation of lysine 9 on histone H3 (H3K9me3) at the 8-cell stage was determined by immunofluorescence staining, and the cleavage ratio, blastocyst ratio, apoptotic cell index of the blastocyst and total cell number of blastocysts in each group were analyzed. Results showed that the H3K9me3 level was significantly higher in the NT-C group than in the fertilized group and the NT-T group. The apoptosis index of blastocysts in the NT-C group was significantly higher than that in the fertilized group and the NT-T group. The total cell number of SCNT embryos was significantly lower than that of fertilized embryos, and injecting sperm-borne small RNAs could significantly increase the total cell number of SCNT blastocysts. Our study not only demonstrates that sperm-borne small RNAs have an important role in embryo development, but also provides a new strategy for improving the efficiency of SCNT in rabbit.
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Manipulating the Epigenome in Nuclear Transfer Cloning: Where, When and How. Int J Mol Sci 2020; 22:ijms22010236. [PMID: 33379395 PMCID: PMC7794987 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22010236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2020] [Revised: 12/24/2020] [Accepted: 12/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The nucleus of a differentiated cell can be reprogrammed to a totipotent state by exposure to the cytoplasm of an enucleated oocyte, and the reconstructed nuclear transfer embryo can give rise to an entire organism. Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) has important implications in animal biotechnology and provides a unique model for studying epigenetic barriers to successful nuclear reprogramming and for testing novel concepts to overcome them. While initial strategies aimed at modulating the global DNA methylation level and states of various histone protein modifications, recent studies use evidence-based approaches to influence specific epigenetic mechanisms in a targeted manner. In this review, we describe-based on the growing number of reports published during recent decades-in detail where, when, and how manipulations of the epigenome of donor cells and reconstructed SCNT embryos can be performed to optimize the process of molecular reprogramming and the outcome of nuclear transfer cloning.
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Zhang ZP, Zhang JT, Huang SC, He XY, Deng LX. Double sperm cloning (DSC) is a promising strategy in mammalian genetic engineering and stem cell research. Stem Cell Res Ther 2020; 11:388. [PMID: 32894201 PMCID: PMC7487873 DOI: 10.1186/s13287-020-01907-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2020] [Revised: 08/12/2020] [Accepted: 08/27/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) derived from somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are promising tools for meeting the personalized requirements of regenerative medicine. However, some obstacles need to be overcome before clinical trials can be undertaken. First, donor cells vary, and the reprogramming procedures are diverse, so standardization is a great obstacle regarding SCNT and iPSCs. Second, somatic cells derived from a patient may carry mitochondrial DNA mutations and exhibit telomere instability with aging or disease, and SCNT-ESCs and iPSCs retain the epigenetic memory or epigenetic modification errors. Third, reprogramming efficiency has remained low. Therefore, in addition to improving their success rate, other alternatives for producing ESCs should be explored. Producing androgenetic diploid embryos could be an outstanding strategy; androgenic diploid embryos are produced through double sperm cloning (DSC), in which two capacitated sperms (XY or XX, sorted by flow cytometer) are injected into a denucleated oocyte by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) to reconstruct embryo and derive DSC-ESCs. This process could avoid some potential issues, such as mitochondrial interference, telomere shortening, and somatic epigenetic memory, all of which accompany somatic donor cells. Oocytes are naturally activated by sperm, which is unlike the artificial activation that occurs in SCNT. The procedure is simple and practical and can be easily standardized. In addition, DSC-ESCs can overcome ethical concerns and resolve immunological response matching with sperm providers. Certainly, some challenges must be faced regarding imprinted genes, epigenetics, X chromosome inactivation, and dosage compensation. In mice, DSC-ESCs have been produced and have shown excellent differentiation ability. Therefore, the many advantages of DSC make the study of this process worthwhile for regenerative medicine and animal breeding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhi-Ping Zhang
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, 450046, China
| | - Jun-Tao Zhang
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, 450046, China
| | - Shu-Cheng Huang
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, 450046, China
| | - Xiu-Yuan He
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, 450046, China
| | - Li-Xin Deng
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, 450046, China.
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