转基因和再克隆对克隆胚胎细胞凋亡的影响

细胞凋亡在着床前胚胎发育过程中发挥着重要作用,胚胎凋亡检测能为获得高质量的体细胞克隆胚胎提供有益信息,进而有助于提高克隆效率.用原位末端标记法对牛的转基因克隆和转基因再克隆囊胚进行了细胞凋亡检测,再克隆囊胚是利用转基因克隆牛的体细胞作为供体细胞进行体细胞核移植后获得的第二代克隆胚胎.结果表明转基因克隆胚胎的囊胚发育率显著低于非转基因克隆胚胎的囊胚发育率,而转基因克隆囊胚的细胞凋亡指数显著高于非转基因克隆胚胎的细胞凋亡指数.此外,转基因再克隆胚胎的囊胚发育率和胚胎细胞凋亡指数与非转基因克隆胚胎的囊胚发育率和胚胎细胞凋亡指数相比差异性不显著.结果表明早期的转基因克隆胚胎发育能力的减弱可能是由于供体细胞的基因转染和药物筛选过程导致的,而再克隆对其早期胚胎的发育能力没有负面影响.     

利用体细胞核移植技术生产黄牛和水牛同种、异种转基因克隆囊胚

以含neo和GFP基因双标记的水牛、黄牛胎儿成纤维细胞进行牛转基因体细胞核移植,结果发现：阿菲迪霉素可有效将胎儿成纤维细胞同步于G0／G1期;以GFP阳性细胞进行核移植,其卵裂率、囊胚率与对照组间无显著差异（P〉0．05）,所构建的重组胚,2-细胞阶段观察不到GFP的表达,4-细胞以后GFP的表达逐渐增强,在囊胚的内细胞团和滋养层细胞均可检测到GFP的表达,将黄牛同种转基因克隆囊胚进行移植,获得1例妊娠;黄牛卵母细胞-水牛供核细胞构建异种重组胚囊胚率显著高于黄牛供核细胞-水牛卵母细胞构建的异种重组胚（P〈0．05）,并且异种核移植重组胚中可检测到GFP表达,GFP可作为异种核移植胚胎来源的一种新标记．     

小鼠体细胞核移植及ES细胞样集落分离

利用小鼠皮肤成纤维细胞为核供体进行体细胞核移植并从重构胚中分离胚胎干细胞(ES)样集落,以便对体细胞核移植重构胚来源的ES细胞样集落进行研究.结果显示,小鼠皮肤成纤维细胞作为核供体,核移植重构胚激活率为60.48%(254/420),囊胚发育率为6.90%(29/420),6个囊胚中分离出ES细胞样集落,分离率为1.43%(6/420),3个ES细胞样集落能够稳定传代,至第5代时核型正常率分别为77.84%,75.18%,77.20%.分离出的ES细胞样集落具有岛屿状团状隆起结构,碱性磷酸酶染色呈阳性,体外可自发分化成上皮样或梭形细胞.实验证实小鼠唇部皮肤成纤维细胞能够支持体细胞核移植重构胚发育至囊胚,并能分离出可以稳定传代的ES细胞样集落.     

瘦素对猪卵母细胞体外成熟及克隆猪妊娠率的影响

体细胞克隆猪在人类医学、基础科学研究和畜牧业生产方面均具有很大的应用潜力.为了提高体细胞克隆猪的效率,首先比较了两种基础成熟液NCSU-23和TCM199的体外成熟效果,然后在TCM199培养液的基础上,较系统地研究了添加不同浓度的瘦素对猪卵母细胞成熟、孤雌激活胚胎和克隆胚胎的体外发育以及克隆胚胎体内发育的影响.结果表明:成熟液中添加100ng/mL或200ng/mL瘦素对猪卵母细胞的核成熟没有显著影响(P>0.05);对孤雌激活卵裂率和克隆胚胎卵裂率也没有显著影响(P>0.05);但却显著提高了孤雌激活胚胎的囊胚率和囊胚细胞数,并且显著提高了克隆胚胎的囊胚率;当添加量为100ng/mL时,克隆囊胚的细胞数显著升高.另外,研究表明,瘦素很可能具有提高克隆胚胎移植妊娠率和妊娠到期率的作用.     

促减数分裂甾醇（MAS）对猪卵母细胞体外成熟及其胚胎发育能力的影响

利用促减数分裂甾醇(MAS)合成代谢过程中的抑制剂AY9944累积FF-MAS的原理,在猪卵母细胞体外成熟过程中添加AY9944,间接地研究了内源性MAS对猪卵母细胞体外成熟质量的影响.猪卵丘卵母细胞复合体(cumulus oocyte complexes,COCs)培养在NCSU23成熟培养液中,并添加不同浓度(0,10,20,40μmol/L)的AY9944培养44h.培养结束后,成熟的卵母细胞进行孤雌激活和以胎儿成纤维细胞为核供体重构胚胎,分别于48和144h观察胚胎发育情况,统计卵裂率和囊胚率及囊胚/2-细胞胚比率.结果如下:(1)随着AY9944添加浓度的增加,退化的卵母细胞增多,40μmol/L AY9944处理的退化卵显著,卵母细胞成熟率显著下降.(2)成熟培养液添加20和40μmol/L AY9944处理的孤雌激活胚胎的囊胚形成率和2-细胞胚发育到囊胚的比率显著增加(P<0.05).(3)以对照组(0μmol/L AY9944)和20μmol/L AY9944处理的卵母细胞为胞质受体,发现20μmol/L AY9944处理的克隆胚的发育能力囊胚率和2-细胞胚发育到囊胚的比率有所提高,但无显著差异(P>0.05).以上结果表明,猪卵母细胞体外成熟过程中添加AY9944提高了猪卵母细胞体外成熟的胞质质量,胚胎的发育能力提高.     

利用体细胞核移植技术生产表达增强绿色荧光蛋白（EGFP）的转人溶菌酶基因（HLY）的 猪克隆胚胎

由于生理特性和器官大小的原因,猪在人类疾病模型和器官移植方面具有很大的应用潜力.正因如此,猪基因结构的修饰对农业生产和人类医学两方面都意义重大.研究用脂质体介导的方法转染了猪胎儿成纤维细胞,所用结构为双标的人溶菌酶质粒(pBC1-HLY-GFP-NEO).分别对包含两个品种（五指山猪、长白猪）的5个细胞系（sw7,sw8,slw3,slw6和slw9）进行了转染.经过14d,1000μg/mL浓度G418药物的筛选处理,sw7,sw8,slw3和slw6等4个细胞系的95%以上细胞都表达绿色荧光蛋白,而细胞系slw9的转染效率只有49.3%.用转染效率高的3个细胞系作为核供体构建猪克隆胚胎,通过电刺激方法进行融合和激活,然后在PZM3中体外培养.48h后,重构胚的平均卵裂率为76.7%;经过7d培养后观察,有18.5%的胚胎发育到囊胚阶段,其中93.3%的囊胚在荧光显微镜下能够发出绿色荧光,但囊胚之间的荧光强度存在差异.研究结果表明,通过脂质体介导的方法可以获得高转染效率的转基因猪胎儿成纤维细胞系,但细胞系之间的转染效率不同;用转基因猪胎儿成纤维细胞构建的重构胚,能够成功发育到囊胚阶段,而且大多数为表达绿色荧光蛋白的阳性胚胎.     

成纤维细胞和ES细胞在小鼠和兔去核卵母细胞内发育

以昆明白小鼠成纤维细胞和胚胎干（ES）细胞作为供核细胞，以昆明白小鼠和日本大耳白兔的MⅡ期去核卵母细胞作为受体，采用核移植方法，构楚了克隆胚胎．在同种克隆中，以ES细胞为供核细胞的克隆胚胎卵裂率明显低于以成纤维细胞为供核细胞的克隆胚胎卵裂率（24．4％相对于56．9％，P〈0．05），1．8％的ES细胞克隆胚胎发育到囊胚阶段，而成纤维细胞克隆胚胎没能发育到囊胚阶段；在异种克隆中，以ES细胞为供核细胞的克隆胚胎卵裂率（89．6％）和囊胚发育率（18．8％）明显高于以成纤维细胞为供核细胞的克隆胚胎卵裂率（54．2％）和囊胚发育率（4．2％）．     

客观地认识动物克隆问题

要获得遗传物质完全相同的生物体,必须应用克隆技术。克隆（ｃｌｏｎｅ）即无性繁殖系,指单一的亲代细胞通过无性繁殖而产生的一组细胞。克隆动物是把动物的细胞核转移到成熟的去核卵细胞质内而发育成的动物个体,它可分为胚型克隆和无性克隆两种。胚型克隆动物是指用早期胚胎细胞核作供体移植、克隆所形成的动物。其主要克隆方式有胚胎分割,胎细胞核移植、胚胎干细胞核移植、胎儿成纤维细胞核移植和胚胎嵌合。目前世界上已经完成了对小鼠、家兔、山羊、绵羊、猪、牛、马等动物的胚胎分割克隆;用胚胎细胞核移植技术克隆成功了小鼠、家兔…     

小鼠四倍体半克隆胚胎发育研究

半克隆(Semi-Cloned)胚胎是通过注射体细胞核到未去核的卵母细胞中产生的。在半克隆胚胎中,体细胞被用来作为精子的替代物。然而,由于异常的染色体分离,构建的半克隆胚胎在激活后形成了非整倍体而导致胚胎发育受到严重影响,不能发育到期。本研究通过抑制小鼠半克隆胚胎在激活过程中染色体数目减半,避免非整倍体胚胎形成,研究四倍体半克隆(TetraploidSemi-cloned,TSC)胚胎的发育和体细胞核的掺入对胚胎发育的影响。结果显示,TSC胚胎的体外发育率显著高于二倍体半克隆胚胎,与正常受精卵及孤雌激活对照无显著性差异,但TSC胚胎的细胞数在桑椹胚和囊胚期比正常二倍体受精胚胎和孤雌激活胚胎少。通过Oct-4染色发现,TSC胚胎囊胚期内细胞团(InnerCellMass,ICM)细胞很少或者没有。移植63个四倍体半克隆胚胎到3只假孕母鼠体内,得到20个胎盘,但没有得到胎儿。组蛋白乙酰化和DNA甲基化检测显示,部分TSC胚胎在囊胚期没有形成正常受精胚胎在ICM和滋养外胚层(Trophectoderm,TE)之间的差异分布。TSC胚胎的基因表达不依赖于细胞分裂次数而依赖于发育时间。虽然TSC胚胎避免了二倍体半克隆胚胎形成非整倍体现象,但由于TSC胚胎没有ICM细胞或ICM细胞很少,所以只能形成胎盘而不能形成胎儿。本实验第一次较为全面地研究了TSC胚胎的发育,同时也为研究体细胞核再程序化、基因打靶技术提供了一种新的途径。     

内蒙古白绒山羊的体细胞克隆

内蒙古白绒山羊是具有悠久历史的绒肉兼用的品种,对荒漠和半荒漠环境有较强的适应性.山羊绒是来自绒山羊的细绒毛,具有极高的商业价值.为了扩大优秀绒山羊数量,本试验尝试利用体细胞克隆技术进行绒山羊克隆研究.从一只成年优秀公绒山羊中,取其耳缘组织,培养获得成纤维细胞.从当地屠宰场获得山羊卵巢,抽取卵母细胞并体外培养成熟.然后以绒山羊成纤维细胞为核供体,通过体细胞克隆技术生产克隆胚胎.核移植重构胚的融合率、卵裂率和囊胚发育率分别为75.8%,72.6%和11.6%.将处于1-至2-细胞期的胚胎移植入同期发情受体母山羊输卵管中,于2009年4月30日诞生了一只克隆绒山羊.该克隆羊的生长状态及产绒量与细胞核供体山羊相一致,呈现良好的发育态势,说明体细胞克隆技术可以成为良种绒山羊的扩繁途径.     

Apoptosis of transgenic cloned and recloned bovine blastocysts

Apoptosis plays an important role in preimplantation embryonic development. Investigating mechanisms of apoptosis can provide useful information for obtaining high-quality embryos and help to improve cloning efficiency. Here, we investigated the incidence of blastomere apoptosis in transgenic blastocysts generated by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) and recloning using a terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated d-UTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) assay. Transgenic recloned embryos were the second generation SCNT embryos derived from the somatic cells of a transgenic SCNT calf. The blastocyst rate of transgenic SCNT embryos was lower than that of nontransgenic SCNT embryos. The incidence of apoptosis in transgenic SCNT embryos was higher than that of nontransgenic SCNT embryos. The blastocyst rate and the incidence of apoptosis in transgenic recloned embryos were similar to nontransgenic SCNT embryos. The process of donor cell transfection and drug selection may decrease the developmental capacity of transgenic SCNT embryos. Serial cloning did not influence the developmental capacity of transgenic recloned embryos.     

Clone of Chinese Jinan red-cross yellow cattle and evaluation of reproductive characteristics of cloned calf

Somatic cell clone technology is a viable approach to preserving endangered livestock and wildlife genetic resources. In the present research, somatic cell nuclear transfer （SCNT） was performed using granulose cells from the critical endangered Chinese red-cross yellow cattle as donor cells. A total of 211 oocytes were manipulated and 166 （79%） of them were successfully enucleated. 112 （67.4%） SCNT embryos were reconstructed, 94 （83%） of them cleaved, and 48 （43 %） of them developed to blastocyst stage. SCNT blastocysts were transferred to 6 Holstein recipients, and 2 （33%） of them were found to be pregnant. One of them maintained to term and delivered a calf, whereas another aborted. Effect of different fusion buffer （mannitol vs. Zimmerman fusion buffer） and different activation methods （calcium ionophore＋6-DMAP vs. cycloheximide＋CB） on fusion rate and development of SCNT embryos were investigated. The results indicated that： （i） on condition of two DC pulses of 2.5 kV/cm for 10 μs each, fusion rates were higher in mannitol solution than in Zimmerman fusion buffer （71% vs. 61%, respectively, p 〈 0.05）, but the blastocysts rates did not differ between two treatments （36 % vs. 39 %, p〉0.05 ）; （ii） There was no significant difference in development rates to the blastocyst stage for SCNT embryos activated by calcium ionophore＋6-DMAP or by cycloheximide＋CB （42% vs. 46%, respectively, p〉0.05）. Microsatellite DNA analysis examining 28 loci confirmed that the cloned calf was genetically identical to the donor Jinan red-cross yellow cattle and different from the recipient females. Growth and reproductive performance of cloned cow were evaluated, and there were no difference i cross-red n it between cloned and normal control Jinan yellow cattle. Furthermore, the cloned yellow cow has delivered a healthy yellow calf.     

Production of transgenic calves by somatic cellnuclear transfer

Bovine fetal oviduct epithelial cells were transfected with constructed double marker selective vector(pCE-EGFP-IRES-Neo-dNdB) containing the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and neomycin-resistant(Neo^r) genes by electroporation, and a transgenic cell line was obtained. Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) was cartied out using the transgenic cells as nuclei donor. A total of 424 SCNT embryos were reconstructed and 208 (49.1%) of them developed to blastocyst stage. 17 blastocysts on D 7 after reconstruction were transferred to 17 surrogate calves,and 5 (29.4%) recipients were found to be pregnant. Three of them maintained to term and delivered three cloned calves.PCR and Southern blot analysis confirmed the integration of transgene in all of the three cloned calves. In addition, expression of EGFP was detected in biopsy isolated from the transgenic cloned calves and fibroblasts derived from the biopsy. Our results suggest that transgenic calves could be efficiently produced by SCNT using transgenic cells as nuclei donor. Furthermore, all cloned animals could be ensured to be transgenic by efficiently pre-screening transgenic cells and SCNT embryos using the constructed double marker selective vector.     

Scriptaid affects histone acetylation and the expression of development-related genes at different stages of porcine somatic cell nuclear transfer embryo during early development

Although the somatic cell nuclear transfer(SCNT) technique has been used extensively for cloning and generating transgenic pigs,the cloning efficiency is still very low.It has been proposed that the low efficiency of this technique is the result of incomplete epigenetic reprogramming and abnormal gene expression during early embryonic development.In this study,we investigate the effect of Scriptaid,a low-toxicity histone deacetylase inhibitor,on the developmental competence of porcine SCNT embryos.We found that treating SCNT embryos with 500 nmol/L Scriptaid for 15 h after activation significantly enhanced the blastocyst formation rate(27.7%) compared with the untreated group(control)(12.2%,P<0.05).Using an immunofluorescence technique to measure the average fluorescence intensity,we also found that treating SCNT embryos with Scriptaid increased the level of histone acetylation on histone H3 at lysine 14(acH3K14).Furthermore,treating embryos with Scriptaid increased the expression level of three genes that play important roles during embryonic development(Oct4,Klf4 at the blastocyst stage and Nanog at the 4-cell stage).Moreover,the expression level of the apoptosis-related gene Caspase-3 was significantly lower in the Scriptaid-treated SCNT embryos compared with the control SCNT embryos at the 4-cell and blastocyst stages.In conclusion,these results indicate that Scriptaid treatment improves the development and nuclear reprogramming of porcine SCNT embryos.     

Effect of leptin on oocyte maturation and subsequent pregnancy rate of cloned embryos reconstructed by somatic cell nuclear transfer in pigs

Cloning pigs by somatic cell nuclear transfer （SCNT） has wide applications in basic research, human medicine and agricultural production. To improve cloning efficiency, the effect of two basic maturation media, NCSU-23 and TCM199, was compared, and TCM199 was selected for the following experiments with leptin. We systematically studied the effects of leptin supplementation on oocytes in vitro maturation （IVM）, in vitro development of parthenogenetically activated （PA） and SCNT embryos and in vivo development of SCNT embryos after embryo transfer （ET）. The results showed that supplementation of 100 or 200 ng/ml leptin into the maturation medium did not greatly affect nuclear maturation of oocytes, or cleavage rates of PA and SCNT （P 〉 0.05）. Blastocyst rates of PA and SCNT embryos were significantly improved when 100 or 200 ng/ml leptin was added to maturation medium, and the number of cells in PA blastocysts was also improved （P 〈 0.05）. The number of cells in blastocyst of SCNT was improved, when 100 ng/ml leptin was added （P 〈 0.05）. Furthermore, supplementation of 100 or 200 ng/ml leptin to the IVM medium may improve pregnancy rate and the delivery rate inpig cloning.     

Production of transgenic blastocyst of sheep by somatic cell cloning

Five samples from primary cultures of five sheep ovarian granulosa cells were transfected by pEGFP- N1 DNA. Five transgenic positive cell lines, each from one of the five samples above, were used as donor nuclei for somatic nucleus transfer. A total of 352 in vitro matured and enucleated sheep oocytes were fused electrically with transgenic granulosa cells and 329 reconstructed embryos were obtained after activation by Ionomycin/6-DMAP, and these embryos were cultured in SOFaaBSA medium for 7 d. The result shows that 312 embryos (94.8%) had gone through cleavage and among them 63 (19.1%) had developed to the blastocyst stage. Expression of GFP gene was detected in various stages of early embryonic development by sampling randomly. Blastocyst rates given by the four cells treated with 0.5% FCS starvation was 19.6% (55/280) and it had not shown difference significantly (P＞0.05) with the result obtained with another cell line that had not gone through serum starvation (16.3%, 8/49). This experiment indicates that sheep transgenic embryos up to the blastocyst stage can be produced effectively by the combination of gene transfection in somatic cells in culture and somatic cell cloning.     

Cloned pigs derived from somatic cell nuclear transfer embryos cultured in vitro at low oxygen tension

Great progress have been made in animal cloning in China, as evidenced by the live births of cloned cat- tle[1,2], goats[3,4], and sheep[5]. In contrast, pig cloning is still in its infancy though limited fundamental studieshave been conducted[6]. It is g…     

Production of human lysozyme-transgenic cloned porcine embryos by somatic nuclear transfer

Due to their physiology and organ size, pigs have significant potential as human disease models and as organ transplantation donors. Genetic modification of pigs could provide benefits for both agriculture and human medicine. In this study, five fetal pig fibroblast cell lines from two species (Wuzhishan and Landrace pigs) were transfected using double-marked human lysozyme (HLY) plasmids (pBC1-HLY-GFP-NEO) by a liposome-mediated method. The ratio of green fluorescent protein (GFP)-expressing cells was >95% in sw7, sw8, slw3 and slw6 cell lines, but only 49.3% in slw9 cells. Cells from the four highly transgenic lines were used as nuclear donors to construct embryos, which were then cultured after fusion and activation by electric stimulation. The rate of cleavage was 76.7%, 48 h after activation. After 7 days, 18.5% of cleaved eggs had developed to the blastocyst stage and 93.3% of blastocysts were GFP-positive. These results indicate that transgenic fetal pig fibroblast cell lines could be obtained by a liposome-mediated method, though the transfection efficiency varied between cell lines. Reconstructed embryos derived from transgenic cells could successfully develop into blastocysts, most of which were GFP-positive.