Effects of genetic induction and reprogramming through nuclear transfer in in vitro bovine embryo production

Abstract

Strategies such as nuclear transfer and induced reprogramming have been employed in order to induce somatic cells to an embryonic-like pluripotent state. The process of nuclear reprogramming is highly desirable and has significant contributions in the study of both basic and applied science, for example, increasing the efficiency of animal production biotechnologies and medicine by enabling the autologous cell therapy in order to treat numerous diseases. More detailed and studies, however, are still required to enable such applications, since the principals of such techniques are still not fully elucidated. Therefore, specific studies on the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in reprogramming are essential to a better understanding of these processes and also to characterize and improve their efficiency. This proposal aims to study the nuclear reprogramming induced by nuclear transfer of somatic cells, by the expression of pluripotency factors and also trough the combination of both techniques in cattle. In summary, we will analyze the expression of genes known to be essential for pluripotency, epigenetic modifications related to these genes (DNA methylation), as well as the capacity of in vitro and in vivo embryonic development. The results of this proposal will provide important answers on the molecular mechanisms involved in nuclear reprogramming. (AU)