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Hereditas(Beijing) ›› 2019, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (12): 1099-1109.doi: 10.16288/j.yczz.19-193

• Review • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Advances in epigenetic reprogramming of somatic cells nuclear transfer in mammals

Xuqiong Yang, Zhenfang Wu, Zicong Li()   

  1. National Engineering Research Center for Swine Breeding Industry, College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
  • Received:2019-07-03 Revised:2019-10-07 Online:2019-12-20 Published:2019-11-18
  • Contact: Li Zicong E-mail:lizicongcong@163.com
  • Supported by:
    Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China No(31772554)

Abstract:

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is the only reproductive engineering technique that can confer genomic totipotency on somatic cell. SCNT is of great significance for animal germplasm conservation, animal husbandry development, and biomedical research. Although many research advances have been made in this technology, the developmental rate of SCNT mammalian embryos is very low, which seriously limits the application of SCNT in animal husbandry and biomedicine. The primary reason for the low efficiency of cloned embryos is somatic cell reprogramming errors or incomplete reprogramming. These errors or incompleteness present as the abnormal expression of imprinted gene Xist, abnormal DNA methylation, and abnormal histone modification. In this review, we summarize the main factors that influence the low development efficiency of mammalian cloned embryos to provide theoretical reference for the research and practice of improving somatic cell cloning efficiency.

Key words: somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), Xist, DNA methylation, histone modification