While reprogramming a foreign nucleus after somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), the enucleated oocyte (ooplasm) must signal that biomass and cellular requirements changed compared to the nucleus donor cell. Using cells expressing nuclear-encoded but mitochondria-targeted EGFP, a strategy was developed to directly distinguish maternal and embryonic products, testing ooplasm demands on transcri...

The primary intention of somatic cell nuclear transfer in cattle is commercially driven, notably to generate genetically superior animals with desired phenotypic traits as breeding stock. The widespread application of bovine cloning has been hampered by technical difficulties to which recently introduced zona pellucida-free procedures may offer a solution. The most radical approach is so-called...

Cell differentiation is remarkably stable but can be reversed by somatic cell nuclear transfer, cell fusion, and iPS. Nuclear transfer to amphibian oocytes provides a special opportunity to test transcriptional reprogramming without cell division. We show here that, after nuclear transfer to amphibian oocytes, mitotic chromatin is reprogrammed up to 100 times faster than interphase nuclei. We f...

Gynura procumbens is a traditional herb used for the treatment of inflammation, rheumatism and viral infections, although the antitumor effect and its potential mechanisms of action remain unclear. In the present study, the antitumor effect of Gynura procumbens ethanolic extract (GPE) on the osteosarcoma (OS) cell line, U2-OS, was investigated in vitro. Cell proliferation and apoptosis were mea...

The signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (STAT3) induces transcription of genes that control differentiation, inflammation, proliferation, and tumor cell invasion. Cytokines such as interleukin-6 and interferon stimulate the specific tyrosine phosphorylation of STAT3, which confers its ability to bind consensus DNA targets. In addition, unphosphorylated STAT3 has been demonstrated...

Cloning by nuclear transfer is often associated with poor results due to abnormal nuclear reprogramming of somatic donor cells and altered gene expression patterns. We investigated the expression patterns of imprinted genes IGF2 and IGF2R in 33- to 36-day bovine embryos and chorio-allantoic membranes derived from in vivo- and in vitro-produced embryos by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), pa...

Nuclear transfer allows the reprogramming of somatic cells to totipotency. The cell cycle state of the donor and recipient cells, as well as their extent of differentiation, have each been cited as important determinants of reprogramming success. Here, we have used donor and recipient cells at various cell cycle and developmental stages to investigate the importance of these parameters. We foun...

The recent fascinating breakthrough in the area of stem cell research is the successful production of cloned animals via nuclear transplantation of somatic nucleus by intrinsic trans-acting factors of oocytes and trans-differentiation of somatic stem cells from adult organs induced by extrinsic growth factors. During the process of nuclear reprogramming, epigenetic modification of the somatic n...

In mouse somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) is typically included in the nuclear donor injection medium. However, the cytotoxicity of PVP, which is injected into the cytoplasm of oocytes, has recently become a cause of concern. In the present study, we determined whether bovine serum albumin deionized with an ion-exchange resin treatment (d-BSA) was applicable to t...

Synchrony of mitotic nuclei within a multinucleate cell is more of a biological rule than an exception (13) . Synchronized division of nuclei in multinucleate cells has been reported in slime molds (10), protozoa (12, 15, 16), insects (18), and mammalian germ and somatic cells (2, 6, 7, 13) . The influence of a cytoplasmic humoral factor which controls nuclear division has been supported by obs...