Stage-specifi c developmental gene expression of goat preimplantation embryos produced in vitro

Single preimplantation embryo mRNA diff erential display was used to study the gene expression of 2-cell,4cell, and 8-16-cell stage goat embryos produced in vitro, and 16 diff erent stage specifi c bands in total were screened. In these specifi c bands, 5 were in 2-cell stage, 4 were in 4-cell stage, and 7 were in 8-16-cell stage, respectively. Th e sequencing and alignment results suggested that 4 diff erential expression bands were homologous with human petidylarginine deiminase (PAD), bovine insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP3), bovine NADH dehydrogenase (ubiquinone) 1 alpha subcomplex 4 (NDUFA4), and dog cyclin B3 (CCNB3) genes, respectively. All these 4 genes had the functions on physiological regulation and were important factors in the process of goat preimplantation embryo development.