Somatic cell bovine cloning: Effect of donor cell and recipients

Adult somatic cell nuclear transfer was con-ducted by using cultured ear fibroblast cells obtained from a Holstein female cow (GN) and a Galoway herd bull (GLV). The percentages of reconstructed eggs developed into blas-tocysts were similar in GN (23.98%, 123 of 513) and in GLV groups (29.55%, 138 of 467). However, the rate of recon-structed female (GN) embryos developed into term was higher than that of male (GLV) (8.02% and 1.82%, respec-tively). Three kinds of cows, Luxi Yellow cows, Holstein heifers and Holstein cows with normal reproductive records were used as recipients. When the reconstructed embryos from GN were transferred, there was no difference in the pregnancy rate among three kinds of recipients, but the abortion rate of Luxi Yellow cows was significantly higher (85.71%) than in the other two groups (14.29% and 0%, respectively; P < 0.05). And the percentages of newborn calves in transferred embryos were significantly different between Luxi Yellow cows and Holstein breed (1.54%, 10.39% and 20.0%, respectively, P < 0.05). However, when reconstructed embryos from GLV were transferred, there was no difference among three kinds of recipients in the pregnancy rate, the abortion rate and the delivery rate.