62 Relation of Intensity of Gene Expression in Bovine Reconstructed Embryos to Subsequent Development

Abstract

During embryo development, embryonic gene activation (EGA) is the first critical event. We previously showed that EGA is also critical for further development in somatic cell-cloned embryos (Saeki K et al. 2004 Reprod. Fertil. Dev. 16, 157–158 abst). To show this, we reconstructed bovine embryos with bovine somatic cells transfected with chicken β-actin/firefly luciferase fusion gene (β−act/luc+) and showed that only luminescent embryos at 60 hours post-fusion (hpf) developed to the blastocyst stage. In this study, we examined the relation between the intensity of expression of the same reporter gene in embryos reconstructed with bovine β−act/luc+ fibroblasts and their subsequent development to the blastocyst stage. Bovine fibroblasts were transfected with β−act/luc+ as described earlier (Saeki K et al. 2004 Reprod. Fertil. Dev. 16, 157–158 abst). The stably transfected and cloned cells were cultured for several passages. The cells were cultured under serum starvation (0.4% FCS) for 7 days and then used as donor cells. In vitro-matured bovine oocytes derived from slaughterhouse ovaries were enucleated at 20 h post maturation. Enucleated oocytes were electrofused with the cells, and activated with a calcium ionophore and cycloheximide. The LUC+ signal (luminescence) in the embryos was detected in medium containing 500 μg mL−1 luciferin with an imaging photon counter (ARGUS 50, Hamamatsu, Japan) for 30 consecutive min at 60 hpf. The intensity of luminescence in embryos (4- to 8-cell stage) was graded as being strong (>10 × 104 pixels/embryo), intermediate (5 to 10 × 104 pixels/embryo), weak (<5 × 104 pixels/embryo), or absent. The embryos were cultured separately until 168 hpf, and examined for blastocyst development. Experiments were repeated four times, and the data were analyzed with Fisher's PLSD test following ANOVA by Stat View software (Ver. 5.0; abacus Concepts, Berkeley, CA, USA). Of 125 embryos that were reconstructed, 74 (59%) developed to the 4- to 8-cell stage at 60 hpf. The luminescence was strong in 29 (39%) of the embryos, intermediate in 12 (16%), weak in 19 (26%), and absent in 14 (19%). Blastocysts were obtained from a group of embryos that exhibited strong luminescence (10/29, 34%), but none of the embryos from the other groups developed to blastocysts. These results suggest that active gene expression in embryos reconstructed with somatic cells is important for their subsequent development. This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for the 21st Century COE Program of the Japan Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, and by a grant from the Wakayama Prefecture Collaboration of Regional Entities for the Advancement of Technological Excellence of the JST.