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HEREDITAS ›› 2011, Vol. 33 ›› Issue (5): 533-538.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1005.2011.00533

• en • Previous Articles    

The methylation status of PEG10 in placentas of cloned transgenic calves

SU Jian-Min, XU Wen-Bing, LI Yan-Yan, WANG Li-Jun, WANG Yong-Sheng, ZHANG Yong   

  1. College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University, Key Laboratory of Animal Reproductive Endocrinology & Embryo Bio-technology, Ministry of Agriculture, Yangling 712100, China
  • Received:2010-10-14 Revised:2010-12-09 Online:2011-05-20 Published:2011-05-25
  • Contact: ZHANG Yong E-mail:zhy1956@263.net

Abstract: The low efficiency of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is a significant barrier to the production of highly valuable transgenic livestock. It is generally believed that the principal cause of the low SCNT efficiency is the aberrant nuclear epigenetic reprogramming of donor somatic cell. DNA methylation is a major epigenetic modification of the genome and plays a crucial role in nuclear reprogramming during SCNT. In order to assess whether the abnormal epigenetic modifications of the imprinted gene in placenta are correlated with the development abnormality and death of the cloned transgenic calves, the DNA methylation patterns of PEG10 were compared in the placentas from different kinds of cattle. This comparison included transgenic cloned calves died during perinatal stage and showed developmental defects (Death group), transgenic cloned calves survived and lived on healthily (Live group) and the normal reproduced calves (N group) used as the control group analyzed by Bisulfite Sequencing PCR (BSP) method and Combined Bisulfite Restriction Analysis (COBRA). Comparing to the control group, PEG10 gene in the Death group showed abnormal hyper-methylation, but was not significant different in methylation level from the Live group. It can be postulated from the results that the incomplete or abnormal DNA methylation epigenetic reprogramming of imprinting gene in placenta may be one of the main causes of the abnormal development and death of the transgenic cloned cattle.

Key words: DNA methylation, PEG10, SCNT, cloned transgenic cow