scholarly journals Dnmt3l-knockout donor cells improve somatic cell nuclear transfer reprogramming efficiency

Reproduction ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 150 (4) ◽  
pp. 245-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hung-Fu Liao ◽  
Chu-Fan Mo ◽  
Shinn-Chih Wu ◽  
Dai-Han Cheng ◽  
Chih-Yun Yu ◽  
...  

Nuclear transfer (NT) is a technique used to investigate the development and reprogramming potential of a single cell. DNA methyltransferase-3-like, which has been characterized as a repressive transcriptional regulator, is expressed in naturally fertilized egg and morula/blastocyst at pre-implantation stages. In this study, we demonstrate that the use of Dnmt3l-knockout (Dnmt3l-KO) donor cells in combination with Trichostatin A treatment improved the developmental efficiency and quality of the cloned embryos. Compared with the WT group, Dnmt3l-KO donor cell-derived cloned embryos exhibited increased cell numbers as well as restricted OCT4 expression in the inner cell mass (ICM) and silencing of transposable elements at the blastocyst stage. In addition, our results indicate that zygotic Dnmt3l is dispensable for cloned embryo development at pre-implantation stages. In Dnmt3l-KO mouse embryonic fibroblasts, we observed reduced nuclear localization of HDAC1, increased levels of the active histone mark H3K27ac and decreased accumulation of the repressive histone marks H3K27me3 and H3K9me3, suggesting that Dnmt3l-KO donor cells may offer a more permissive epigenetic state that is beneficial for NT reprogramming.

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. 2065-2080 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kanokwan Srirattana ◽  
Justin C St. John

Abstract The mixing of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from the donor cell and the recipient oocyte in embryos and offspring derived from somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) compromises genetic integrity and affects embryo development. We set out to generate SCNT embryos that inherited their mtDNA from the recipient oocyte only, as is the case following natural conception. While SCNT blastocysts produced from Holstein (Bos taurus) fibroblasts were depleted of their mtDNA, and oocytes derived from Angus (Bos taurus) cattle possessed oocyte mtDNA only, the coexistence of donor cell and oocyte mtDNA resulted in blastocysts derived from nondepleted cells. Moreover, the use of the reprogramming agent, Trichostatin A (TSA), further improved the development of embryos derived from depleted cells. RNA-seq analysis highlighted 35 differentially expressed genes from the comparison between blastocysts generated from nondepleted cells and blastocysts from depleted cells, both in the presence of TSA. The only differences between these two sets of embryos were the presence of donor cell mtDNA, and a significantly higher mtDNA copy number for embryos derived from nondepleted cells. Furthermore, the use of TSA on embryos derived from depleted cells positively modulated the expression of CLDN8, TMEM38A, and FREM1, which affect embryonic development. In conclusion, SCNT embryos produced by mtDNA depleted donor cells have the same potential to develop to the blastocyst stage without the presumed damaging effect resulting from the mixture of donor and recipient mtDNA.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. 5841
Author(s):  
Lianguang Xu ◽  
Seok-Hwan Song ◽  
Muhammad Idrees ◽  
Ayman Mesalam ◽  
Myeong-Don Joo ◽  
...  

Cytoplasm injection cloning technology (CICT) is an efficient technique for evaluating the developmental potential of cloned embryos. In this study, we investigated the effects of donor cell type on the developmental potential and quality of cloned bovine embryos. Adult fibroblasts (AFs) and embryonic cells (ECs) were used as donor cells to clone bovine embryos using CICT. We initially used AF cells to develop cloned embryos and then cultured the cloned day-8 blastocysts for 10 days to obtain ECs as donor cells for second embryo cloning. We found that the bovine blastocysts cloned using AF cells had significantly reduced developmental rates, embryo quality, and ratios of inner cell mass (ICM) to the total number of cells compared to those using ECs as donor cells. Furthermore, there were significant differences in the DNA methyltransferase-, histone deacetylation-, apoptosis-, and development-related genes at the blastocyst stage in embryos cloned from AFs compared to those in embryos cloned from ECs. Our results suggest that using ECs as donor cells for nuclear transfer enhances the quantity and quality of cloned embryos. However, further investigation is required in terms of determining pregnancy rates and developing cloned embryos from different donor cell types.


2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 134
Author(s):  
I. M. Saadeldin ◽  
B. H. Kim ◽  
B. Roibas da Torre ◽  
O. J. Koo ◽  
G. Jang ◽  
...  

Nuclear transfer (NT) has been used to produce many cloned offspring using several types of cells, including embryonic cells. Even though inner cell mass cells have been used as donor karyoplast for producing cloned animals, there are few studies using trophoblast. In mice, clones were born by nuclear transfer of trophoblasts from the expanded blastocyst into enucleated oocytes as a trial to show the totipotency of both inner cell mass and trophectoderm cells isolated from blastocysts (Tsunoda and Kato 1998 J. Reprod. Fertil. 113, 181–184). However, bovine trophoblast cell (TC) lines have not been used in NT to date. The purpose of this study was to elucidate whether TC as donor cell can be reprogrammed in bovine enucleated oocyte and determine the relative abundance of interferon tau (IFNτ) expression in the resulting cloned preimplantational embryos. Hatched blastocysts produced by IVF were used to isolate TCs on mouse embryonic fibroblasts treated with mitomycin C as feeder cells. TCs and adult fibroblasts (AF, control group for NT) were microinjected to perivitelline space of in vitro mature enucleated oocytes and electrically fused. Reconstructed embryos were chemically activated and cultured in a 2-step chemically defined medium. Levels of IFNτ expression in IVF-, TC-, and AF-derived blastocysts were analyzed using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). IVF produced embryos were used as reference to analyze the linear progressive expression of IFNτ through mid-, expanded, and hatching blastocysts. As a result, TCs expressing IFNτ were successfully isolated and cultured on feeder layers. It grew as cell sheets of cuboidal epithelium with high proliferation capacity as a single colony originated from a small clump of cells measured 0.5 cm within 7 days of culture. TCs were reprogrammed in the enucleated oocytes to blastocyst with similar efficiency to AF (14.5% and 15.6%, respectively; P ≤ 0.05). RT-qPCR studies showed that IFNτ expression was higher in TC-derived blastocysts than IVF- and AF-derived blastocysts. Both IVF- and TC-derived blastocysts, showed progressive increase of IFNτ expression through the advancement of blastocyst development when it was compared to AF-derived blastocysts. In conclusion, using TCs expressing IFNτ as donor cell for bovine NT could increase the developmental competence of cloned embryos as indicated by progressive linear increase in IFNτ expression. This study was supported by grants from IPET (#109023-05-1-CG000), NRF (#M10625030005-10N250300510), MKE (#2009-67-10033839, #2009-67-10033805), and BK21 program. Saadeldin I. M. is supported by Islamic Development Bank (IDB) merit scholarship, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.


2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 183 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Teson ◽  
K. Lee ◽  
L. Spate ◽  
R. S. Prather

One of the key regulators of gene expression in mammals is DNA methylation. The Tet family (Tet1–3) is suggested to be involved in regulating the level of methylation by hydroxylating a methyl group from 5-methylcytosine to form 5-hydroxymethylcystosine. This hydroxylation alters the 3-dimensional structure of the DNA and results in altered gene expression. Previous studies conducted in the mouse have shown that Tet1 is important for inner cell mass specification by regulating the apparent level of methylation on a specific promoter region in blastocysts and Tet3 is related to the apparent paternal DNA demethylation after fertilization by hydroxylating the paternal genome. The objective of this study was to investigate the expression profile of the Tet family in porcine oocytes and pre-implantation-stage embryos derived from IVF and somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). The RNA was isolated from donor cells, germinal vesicle (GV), MII and 2-cell and blastocyst stage embryos (20 oocytes or embryos per group). Levels of mRNA for each Tet gene were measured by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. The levels of each mRNA transcript were compared to YWHAG, a housekeeping gene that shows a constant level of expression throughout pre-implantation embryo development and normalized to the GV stage. The analysis was repeated with 3 biological replications and 2 experimental replications. Differences in gene expression were compared by ANOVA and P < 0.05 was considered significant. No difference was found in the levels of the Tet family members between GV and MII stage oocytes. Compared with GV stage oocytes, up-regulation of Tet3 at the 2-cell stage was detected in both IVF and SCNT embryos, 4.7 and 6.2 fold, respectively. A dramatic increase in Tet1 was also observed at the blastocyst stage in IVF and SCNT embryos when compared with the GV stage, 65.7 and 79.7 fold increases, respectively. Interestingly, the level of Tet3 was down-regulated in blastocyst embryos at a 25 or more fold decrease compared with GV. The level of Tet2 remained constant throughout embryo development. Embryos (2-cell and blastocyst) compared from IVF and SCNT showed no difference in Tet expression levels. Donor cells had significantly lower levels of Tet2 and Tet3 when compared with GV. Our results indicate that the Tet family shows a dynamic expression profile during porcine pre-implantation embryo development. High expression of Tet3 in 2-cell stage embryos suggests its importance during the post-activation demethylation process. The increase of Tet1 transcript in blastocysts suggests that Tet1 is involved in regulating the type of methylation at the blastocyst stage. These results are consistent with results from previous mouse studies. There was no misregulated expression of the Tet family in SCNT embryos compared with IVF embryos, thus indicating successful reprogramming of the Tet family after SCNT. Lower levels of Tet2 and Tet3 would indicate that Tet1 is important for maintaining type of methylation in donor cells. This is the first report on the profile of the Tet family during porcine pre-implantation embryo development and further studies are needed to clarify their role during this stage.


2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 132 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Srirattana ◽  
J. C. St. John

Although somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is a valuable tool for producing animals for agricultural and research purposes, the resultant mixing of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from the donor cell and recipient oocyte (heteroplasmy) affects embryo development and offspring survival and health. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of depleting donor cells of their mtDNA before SCNT on embryo development. mtDNA was depleted from cattle fibroblasts using 2′,3′-dideoxycytidine. mtDNA copy number in cells depleted for 30 days (0.85 ± 0.05) was significantly decreased when compared with nondepleted cells (150.12 ± 29.90; P < 0.0001, ANOVA). Moreover, mtDNA copy number in depleted cells could not be replenished after depletion for 30 days. Depleted cells and nondepleted cells were used as donor cells for SCNT. Somatic cell nuclear transfer embryos were produced by electrofusion of a single donor cell with an enucleated cow oocyte. Reconstructed oocytes were chemically activated and cultured for 7 days (nontreated embryos). Another cohort of embryos was treated with Trichostatin A (TSA), to enhance reprogramming, by activating reconstructed oocytes and culturing them in the presence of 50 nM TSA for up to 10 h. The embryos were then cultured in the absence of TSA. In nontreated groups, the fusion rates of depleted cells (78.0 ± 0.8%) were significantly lower than those of nondepleted cells (92.1 ± 1.4%; P < 0.05). No positive effect on fusion rates was found after TSA treatment. The blastocyst rate for SCNT embryos derived from depleted cells (18.7 ± 4.9%) was significantly lower than the nondepleted group (32.5 ± 3.1%; P < 0.05). Trichostatin A treatment increased blastocyst rates for SCNT embryos derived from depleted cells (32.5 ± 5.3%) to levels equivalent to those of nondepleted cells but did not have any beneficial effect on SCNT embryos derived from nondepleted cells. We have analysed blastocysts for the presence of donor cell mtDNA by high resolution melting analysis. Four out of 10 SCNT blastocysts derived from nondepleted cells were heteroplasmic, whereas others had no donor cell mtDNA. However, all 10 analysed SCNT blastocysts derived from depleted cells were homoplasmic as they harboured only oocyte mtDNA. From RNA sequencing results, TSA treatment of SCNT blastocysts derived from depleted cells increased the expression of key developmental transcription regulators and decreased expression of the mtDNA-specific replication factors, which is essential for embryo development. In conclusion, homoplasmic SCNT embryos were successfully produced by using mtDNA depleted donor cells. Trichostatin A treatment enhanced nuclear reprogramming efficiency in SCNT embryos derived from depleted cells. This work was supported by MitoStock Pty. Ltd., Australia.


2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 182
Author(s):  
G. Wee ◽  
J.-J. Shim ◽  
B.-S. Song ◽  
J.-S. Kim ◽  
D.-B. Koo ◽  
...  

Epigenetic reprogramming such as DNA methylation is incomplete in cloned embryos during early development as compared with normal embryos. The increased methylation levels of cloned bovine blastocysts are showed in centromeric heterochromatin. The aim of the present study was to investigate the change of methylation state by treatment of trichostatin A (TSA), a specific inhibitor of histone deacetylase in somatic donor nuclei and cloned blastocyst reconstructed with TSA-treated cells or nontreated cells. Bovine ear skin fibroblast cells (bESF) were used as donor cell and treated with TSA for 60 h at a final concentration of 1 �M. To methylation analysis of satellite I as specific DNA sequence, genomic DNA from 7 � 104 cells and a blastocyst were isolated, and then the genomic DNA was analyzed by bisulfite sequencing. The reduction of HDAC1, 2 and Dnmt family such as Dnmt1, Dnmt3a, Dnmt3b, and Dnmt3L after TSA treatment were shown by Western blot in bESF, but histone acetyltransferases such as Tip60 and HAT1 were not changed. Satellite I DNA in nontreated cells was highly methylated in CpG sequences, whereas methylation level of TSA-treated cells was significantly decreased (64 vs. 48%, P < 0.05). After nuclear transfer using normal or altered donor cells, methylation levels of satellite were measured at the blastocyst stage of NT and TSA-NT embryos as compared with IVF embryos. In nontreated NT blastocysts, methylation levels were significantly higher than IVF blastocysts (66 vs. 29%, P < 0.05) and were similar to that of nontreated bESF cells. The reduction of methylation levels in TSA-NT blastocysts were showed and were significantly lower than NT blastocyst derived with nontreated cells (37 vs. 66%, P < 0.05), but no significant differences were found between TSA-NT and IVF blastocysts. Also, the levels of methylation were similar to that of TSA-treated donor cells. In blatocyst formation, TSA-NT embryos were improved significantly compared with NT or IVF embryos (45.9 vs. 31.7 or 28%, P < 0.05). These results demonstrated that somatic methylation status after epigenetic alteration affect in early cloned embryo development, suggesting epigenetic control may help to solve of inherent problems in cloning.


2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 129
Author(s):  
G.-S. Im ◽  
J.-S. Seo ◽  
I.-S. Hwang ◽  
S.-W. Kim ◽  
H.-S. Park ◽  
...  

Activation is one of key factors for improving developmental ability of pre-implantation nuclear transfer (NT) embryos. This study investigated the effect of chemical activation following fusion/activation on the development and apoptosis of pre-implantation porcine embryos derived from NT. Oocytes were aspirated from ovaries collected from a local abattoir, and then matured in TCM-199 for 42 to 44 h. Donor cells were prepared from a 35-day-old porcine fetus. Matured oocytes were enucleated and donor cells were introduced into the perivitelline space. Fusion/activation was conducted with two electric pulse of 1.2 kV/cm for 30 �s. Fused embryos were divided into four groups. The first one was the control without chemical activation; the other three groups were treated with thimerosal (0.2 mM for 10 min; T) and then with dithiothreitol (8 mM for 30 min; DTT), 6-dimethylaminopurine (2 mM for 3 h; 6-DMAP), or cycloheximide (10 �g/mL for 6 h; CH). Treated embryos were cultured in porcine zygote medium-3 (PZM-3) at 38.5�C under 5% CO2 in air for 6 days. Cleavage and blastocyst rate were determined on Days 3 and 6, respectively. Apoptosis was analyzed with a terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine 5-triphosphate nick-end labeling (TUNEL) assay from day 1 to 7. Embryos treated with chemicals following fusion/activation showed significantly higher blastocyst rates compared to control embryos fused/activated by electric pulse alone (12.6% for control vs. 21.1% for DTT, 20.8% for 6-DMAP, 20.6% for CH; P < 0.05). Although total cell number of blastocysts showed no significant difference, the ratio of inner cell mass to trophectoderm was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in embryos with chemical activation than in those without it (11.9 vs. 19.4, 18.1, and 24.1%; P < 0.05). Occurrence of apoptosis was first observed on Day 3, but there was no significant difference among treatments until Day 6. It was significantly increased in embryos with chemical activation on Day 7 compared to control embryos (5.1 vs. 7.1, 7.8, and 7.8%; P < 0.05). These results indicate that chemical activation following fusion/activation could support significantly a higher blastocyst rate for pre-implantation porcine embryos derived from nuclear transfer; however, it can increase occurrence of apoptotic cells at blastocyst stage.


2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 134
Author(s):  
P. Q. Cong ◽  
E. S. Song ◽  
E. S. Kim ◽  
Z. H. Li ◽  
Y. J. Yi ◽  
...  

Pigs have become increasingly important in the field of biomedical research, and interest has grown in the use of transgenic cloned pigs as potential xenograft donors. The present study were carried out to investigate the effects of intensity of DC pulse, number of DC pulses, and equilibration before fusion/activation on developmental ability of porcine embryos derived from nuclear transfer. Porcine cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) were cultured in modified TCM-199 (mTCM-199) medium for 44 h at 38.5�C, 5% CO2 in air. After in vitro maturation (IVM), metaphase II oocytes were selected for enucleation. Porcine fetal fibroblasts were obtained from a porcine fetus on Day 35 of gestation as donor cells. Oocytes were enucleated by removing, with a micropipette, the first polar body along with adjacent cytoplasm containing the metaphase plate; then a donor cell was injected in contact with the cytoplasm of each oocyte. In experiment 1, several different fusion/activation intensities (two DC pulses of 0.4, 0.8, 1.2, 1.6, and 2.0 kV cm-1 for 30 �s) were carried out to investigate the effect on the development of nuclear transfer embryos. In experiment 2, the reconstructed oocytes were fused and activated with 1, 2, or 3 DC pulses of 1.2 kV cm-1 for 30 �s. In experiment 3, reconstructed oocytes were equilibrated in mTCM-199 medium at 38.5�C, 5% CO2 for 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 h. After equilibration, the reconstructed oocytes were fused and activated with one DC pulse of 1.2 kV cm-1 for 30 �s in fusion medium. The reconstructed embryos were transferred into PZM-3 medium containing 0.3% BSA for further culture. The rates of embryo cleavage and development of blastocyst stage were evaluated at 48 h and 6-7 days, respectively. The cell numbers of blastocysts were counted by using Hoechst 33342 epifluorescence staining. Data were analyzed by ANOVA and Duncan


2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 126
Author(s):  
Y. Kaedei ◽  
A. Fujiwara ◽  
F. Tanihara ◽  
Z. Namula ◽  
V. L. Vien ◽  
...  

Interspecies somatic cell nuclear transfer (iSCNT) is an invaluable tool for studying nucleous-cytoplasm interactions, and may provide an alternative for cloning endangered animals, whose oocytes are difficult to obtain. Using readily available oocytes from domestic/farm animals as recipients for iSCNT would greatly benefit ongoing research on somatic cell reprogramming. However, little information is available concerning the development of canine iSCNT embryos reconstructed with bovine oocyte cytoplasm. In the first experiment, we investigated the influence of donor cell type on the development of canine iSCNT embryos reconstructed with enucleated bovine oocytes. Canine mammary gland tumour (MGT) cells and cumulus cells were used as donor cell. The bovine oocytes matured for 22 h were enucleated by the micromanipulator, and the donor cells were transferred into the perivitelline space adjacent to the plasma membrane of the oocyte. The couples were fused and activated simultaneously with a single DC pulse of 2.3 kV cm–1 for 30 μs, using an electro cell fusion generator. The reconstructed embryos were cultured for 72 h in the mSOF medium supplemented with 0.4% BSA. After 72 h of culture, only cleaved embryos were further co-cultured with bovine cumulus cells in mSOF supplemented with 5% fetal bovine serum (FBS) for an additional 5 days. In the second experiment, we examined the effects of serum type on the development of canine iSCNT embryos. The embryos reconstructed with canine cumulus cells were co-cultured with canine cumulus cells in mSOF supplemented with 5% FBS, and canine oestrous and diestrous serum for 5 days after 72 h of culture with 0.4% BSA. Data were analysed by chi-square analysis with a Yates’ correction. More than 75% of the canine somatic cells successfully were fused with bovine enucleated oocytes following electrofusion, irrespective of the types of the donor cells. There were no significant differences in the cleavage rates of iSCNT embryos between the cumulus cell and MGT cell (66.2% v. 62.6%). Although none of the embryos reconstructed with MGT cells (n = 123) developed to the 16-cell stage, 6% of embryos with cumulus cells (n = 133) reached at least the 16-cell stage. There were no significant differences in the cleavage rates of iSCNT embryos among the types of serum. The iSCNT embryos could not develop to the blastocyst stage, irrespective of the type of donor cell and serum. In conclusion, our results indicate that the bovine oocytes partly supported the remodelling and reprogramming of the canine somatic cell nuclei, but they were unable to support the development to the blastocyst stage of canine iSCNT embryos. Moreover, the development to the late embryonic stage of iSCNT embryos may be influenced by the type of donor cell but not serum.


2001 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 433-435
Author(s):  
S. Chastant-Maillard ◽  
H. Quinton ◽  
C. Douar ◽  
J. Marchal ◽  
C. Richard ◽  
...  

AbstractThe aim of the study was to evaluate differences between cows in the “quality” of their oocytes defined as their ability to support embryonic development. Ten cows from the same herd, all primiparous and non-pregnant were submitted for oocyte collection by Ovum-Pick Up (OPU). The oocytes were matured in vitro and fertilised with semen from the same bull. In vitro embryo development, both quantitatively (percentages showing cleavage and forming blastocysts) and qualitatively (differential cell counting in blastocysts) was determined at the blastocyst stage (Day 7). The number of oocytes collected, the number of blastocysts obtained and the blastocyst formation rate varied between cows (P<0.001). The mean percentage of inner cell mass cells tended to higher for embryos derived from one cow. These results provide evidence that the quality of the oocytes was influenced by their maternal origin. Follicular growth also varied between cows.


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