• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.65 no.4
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• pp.767-778
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• 2023

The aim of the research is to identify that porcine oocytes can function as recipients for interspecies cloning and have the ability to develop to blastocysts. Furthermore each mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in interspecises cloned embryos was analyzed. For the study, mouse-porcine and porcine-porcine cloned embryos were produced with mouse fetal fibroblasts (MFF) and porcine fetal fibroblasts (PFF), respectively, introduced as donor cells into enucleated porcine oocytes. The developmental rate and cell numbers of blastocysts between intraspecies porcine-porcine and interspecies mouse-porcine cloned embryos were compared and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed for the estimate of mouse and porcine mtDNA copy number in mouse-porcine cloned embryos at different stages.There was no significant difference in the developmental rate or total blastocyst number between mouse-porcine cloned embryos and porcine-porcine cloned embryos (11.1 ± 0.9%, 25 ± 3.5 vs. 10.1 ± 1.2%, 24 ± 6.3). In mouse-porcine reconstructed embryos, the copy numbers of mouse somatic cell-derived mtDNA decreased between the 1-cell and blastocyst stages, whereas the copy number of porcine oocyte-derived mtDNA significantly increased during this period, as assessed by real-time PCR analysis. In our real-time PCR analysis, we improved the standard curve construction-based method to analyze the level of mtDNA between mouse donor cells and porcine oocytes using the copy number of mouse beta-actin DNA as a standard. Our findings suggest that mouse-porcine cloned embryos have the ability to develop to blastocysts in vitro and exhibit mitochondrial heteroplasmy from the 1-cell to blastocyst stages and the mouse-derived mitochondria can be gradually replaced with those of the porcine oocyte in the early developmental stages of mouse-porcine cloned embryos.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.283-288
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• 2010

During normal early embryonic development in mammals, the global pattern of genomic DNA methylation undergoes marked. changes. The level of methylation is high in male and female gametes. Thus, we cloned the cDNA of the porcine DNA methyltransferase 1 (Dnmt1) gene to promote the efficiency of the generation of porcine clones. In this study, porcine Dnmt1 cDNA was sequenced, and Dnmt1 mRNA expression was detected by reverse transcription-polymerase reaction (RT-PCR) in porcine tissues during embryonic development. The porcine Dnmt1 cDNA sequence showed more homology with that of bovine than human, mouse, and rat. The complete sequence of porcine Dnmt1 cDNA was 4,774-bp long and consisted of an open reading frame encoding a protein of 1611 amino acids. The amino acid sequence of porcine DNMT1 showed significant homology with those of bovine (91%), human (88%), rat (76%), and mouse (75%) Dnmt1. The expression of porcine Dnmt1 mRNA was detected during porcine embryogenesis. The mRNA was detected at stages of porcine preimplantation development (1-cell, 2-cell, 4-cell, 8-cell, morula, and blastocyst stages). It was also abundantly expressed in tissues (lung, ovary, kidney and somatic cells). Further investigations are necessary to understand the complex links between methyltransferase 1 and the transcriptional activity in cloned porcine tissues.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.125-131
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• 1990

These experiments were carried out to investigate of the molecular characteristics of porcine zona pellucidae and to examine the reactivity of anti-zona antibody by SDS-PAGE, Immunoblotting and Immunoprecipitation. The results obtained in these experiments were summarized as follows : 1. The result obtained by SDS-PAGE of porcine zona pellucidae indicated that it composed of several units with molecular weight ranging 55,000-110,000. 2. In order to see the reactivity of antibodies to zona pellucidas, immunoblotting was applied. The results indicated that polyclonal antibodies to porcine and mouse zona reacted with porcine zona. While monoclonal antibody to porcine did not react with the procine zona enough to show a clear band on a gel. 3. Labelling of porcine zonae with 125I was performed using the Iodogen method, the radioactivity and the percent incorporation of 125I into porcine zonae were approximately 26,000 cpm/10${mu}ell$ and 16, respectively. 4. Measurements of radioactivity and O.D value for Immunoprecipitates produced by reaction of 125I-porcine zona with anti-zona antisera were confirmed that existence of reactivity of monoclonal antibody to porcine zona although its reactivity was lower than that of polyclonal antibodies, and reconfirmed that cross-reactivity of polyclonal antibody of mouse zona with porcine zona.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.1822-1829
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• 2003

Porcine colostrum and milk were separated into the acid-soluble and casein fractions by acidification followed by centrifuge. The acid-soluble fraction of porcine colostrum was further separated by liquid chromatography and anisotropic membrane filtration. Trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitory capacity in porcine colostrum, milk and their components was determined by incubating bovine trypsin or chymotrypsin in a medium containing their corresponding substrates with or without addition of various amounts of porcine colostrum, porcine milk or their components. The inhibition of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) degradation in pig small intestinal contents by porcine colostrum was measured by incubating iodinated IGF-I or EGF with the intestinal contents with or without addition of porcine colostrum. Degradation of labeled IGF-I or EGF was determined by monitoring the generation of radioactivity soluble in 30% trichloroacetic acid (TCA). The results showed that porcine colostrum had high levels of trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitory activity and increased the stability of IGF-I and EGF in pig intestinal contents. The inhibitory activity declined rapidly during lactation. It was also found that trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitory activity and the inhibition on IGF-I and EGF degradation in the acid-soluble fraction were higher than that in the casein fraction. Heat-resistance study indicated that trypsin inhibitors in porcine colostrum survived heat treatments of $100^{\circ}C$ water bath for up to 10 min, but exposure to boiling water bath for 30 min significantly decreased the inhibitory activity. Compared with the trypsin inhibitors, the chymotrypsin inhibitors were more heatsensitive. Separation of the acid-soluble fraction of porcine colostrum by liquid chromatography and anisotropic membrane filtration revealed that the trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitory capacity was mainly due to a group of small proteins with molecular weight of 10,000-50,000. In conclusion, the present study confirmed the existence of high levels of protease inhibitors in porcine colostrum, and the inhibition of porcine colostrum on degradation of milk-borne growth factors in the pig small intestinal tract was demonstrated for the first time.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.85-91
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• 2014

Despite many researches related with in-vitro culture of porcine spematogonial stem cells (SSCs), adherent culture system widely used has shown a limitation in the maintenance of porcine SSC self-renewal. Therefore, in order to overcome this obstacle, suspension culture, which is known to have numerous advantage over adherent culture, was applied to the culture of porcine SSCs. Porcine SSCs retrieved from neonatal testes were suspension-cultured for 5 days or 20 days, and characteristics of suspension-cultured porcine SSCs including proliferation, alkaline phosphatase (AP) activity, and self-renewal-specific gene expression were investigated and compared with those of adherent-cultured porcine SSCs. As the results, the suspension-cultured porcine SSCs showed entirely non-proliferative and significantly higher rate of AP-positive cells and expression of self-renewal-specific genes than the adherent-cultured porcine SSCs. In addition, long-term culture of porcine SSCs in suspension condition induced significant decrease in the yield of AP staining-positive cells on post-day 10 of culture. These results showed that suspension culture was inappropriate to culture porcine SSCs, because the culture of porcine SSCs in suspension condition didn't stimulate proliferation and maintain AP activity of porcine SSCs, regardless of culture periods.

• Proceedings of the KSAR Conference
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• 2001.03a
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• pp.12-12
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• 2001

To get insight into the nature of foreign mitochondria and syngamy during mammalian fertilization we compared fertilization processes in porcine oocytes following microinjection of porcine or mouse spermatozoa. Pronuclear movement, sperm mitochondria, and DNA synthesis were imaged with propidium iodide, mitotracker, and BrdU under confocal laser scanning microscope. Intracytoplasmic injection of either porcine or mouse spermatzoon activated porcine oocytes without additional parthengenetic stimulation. Foreign mitochondria in either mouse or porcine sperm midpiece were introduced into porcine oocytes following sperm injection, but rapidly disappeared from the actively developing porcine oocytes. BrdU experiment showed new DNA synthesis in porcine oocytes following injection of mouse spermatozoon or sperm head. At 24 h after injection of mouse isolated sperm head or a spermatozoon, mitoic metaphase was seen in oocyte, but they did not go to normal cell division (Table). These results suggest that pronuclear formation, foreign mitochondria disruption, DNA synthesis and syngamy formation during fertilization are not species specific processes.(Table Omitted).

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.93-100
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• 2008

This study was conducted to establish an in vitro maturation (IVM) system by selection of efficient macromolecule in the porcine in vitro production (IVP) technology. To choose the efficient macromolecules in the development of porcine embryos, the effects of 3 kinds of macromolecules (porcine serum; PS, porcine follicular fluid; pFF, and polyvinyl alcohol; PVA) supplemented in IVM media on the maturation, cleavage, and development rates to blastocyst of parthenogenetic activation (PA) and in vitro fertilization (IVF) embryos were examined. The maturation rates of porcine oocytes in media supplemented with PS were significantly higher than those with pFF and PVA (92.4% vs. 85.4%, 77.1%; p<0.05). In the cleavage and development to blastocyst rates, supplement with PS or pFF in the IVM media was more effective than PA. However, there were no significant differences in cleavage and development to blastocyst between PS and pFF group. From the results of this study, it was demonstrated that PS was optimal macromolecule in the porcine IVM media.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.289-297
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• 1996

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of maturaton medium and porcine follicular fluid on in vitro maturation of porcine follicular oocytes. The results obtained are as follows; 1. When the oocytes were cultured for 42 hours, the maturation rate was significantly (P<0.05) higher in TCM-HEPES(75.5%) than Ham's F-10(60.9%) and mKRB(60.7%) medium. The optimal medium for the maturation of porcine oocytes in vitro was the TCM-HEPES medium. 2. When the oocytes were cultured for 42 hours in TCM-HEPES medium with 10, 20 and 30% of porcine follicular fluid(pFF), the maturation rates of porcine oocytes were 69.1, 65.6 and 63.3%, respectively. The maturation rate(51.4%) of oocytes cultured without pFF was significantly(P<0.05) lower than that of oocytes cultured with pFF. 3. The maturation rates of porcine oocytes cultured for 42 hours in TCM-HEPEs medium with 3 different porcine follicular fluid treatments were 68.6%(centrifused), 72.3%(filtered) and 73.1%(heat treated), respectively. The maturation rate(49.4%) of control group without pFF treatment was significantly(P<0.05) lower than that of oocytes cultured with pFF treatment.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.249-253
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• 2008

Interspecies somatic cell nuclear transfer (iSCNT) is a valuable tool for studying the interactions between an oocyte and somatic nucleus. The object of this study was to investigate the developmental competence of in vitro-matured porcine oocytes after transfer of the somatic cell nuclei of 2 different species (goat and rabbit). Porcine cumulus oocytes were obtained from the follicles of ovaries and matured in TCM-199. The reconstructed embryos were electrically fused with 2 DC pulses of 1.1kV/cm for $30{\mu}s$ 0.3M mannitol medium. The activated cloned embryos were cultured in porcine zygote medium-3 (PZM-3), mSOF or RDH medium for 7 days. The blastocyst formation rate of the embryos reconstructed from goat or rabbit fetal fibroblasts was significantly lower than that of the embryos reconstructed from porcine fetal fibroblast cells. However, a significantly higher number of embryos reconstructed from goat or rabbit fetal fibroblasts cultured in mSOF or RDH, respectively, developed to the morular stage than those cultured in PZM-3. These results suggest that goat and bovine fetal fibroblasts were less efficacious than porcine-porcine cloned embryos and that culture condition could be an important factor in iSCNT. The lower developmental potential of goat-porcine and porcine-bovine cloned embryos may be due to incompatibility between the porcine oocyte cytoplasm and goat and bovine somatic nuclei.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.449-456
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• 2018

Objective: Nanog, a homeodomain protein, has been investigated in humans and mice using embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Because of the limited availability of ESCs, few studies have reported the function and role of Nanog in porcine ESCs. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the location of the porcine Nanog chromosome and its basal promoter activity, which might have potential applications in development of ESCs specific marker as well as understanding its operating systems in the porcine. Methods: To characterize the porcine Nanog promoter, the 5'-flanking region of Nanog was isolated from cells of mini-pig ears. BLAST database search showed that there are two porcine Nanog genomic loci, chromosome 1 and 5, both of which contain an exon with a start codon. Deletion mutants from the 5'-flanking region of both loci were measured using the Dual-Luciferase Reporter Assay System, and a fluorescence marker, green fluorescence protein. Results: Promoter activity was detected in the sequences of chromosome 5, but not in those of chromosome 1. We identified the sequences from -99 to +194 that possessed promoter activity and contained transcription factor binding sites from deletion fragment analysis. Among the transcription factor binding sites, a Sp1 was found to play a crucial role in basal promoter activity, and point mutation of this site abolished its activity, confirming its role in promoter activity. Furthermore, gel shift analysis and chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis confirmed that Sp1 transcription factor binds to the Sp1 binding site in the porcine Nanog promoter. Taken together, these results show that Sp1 transcription factor is an essential element for porcine Nanog basal activity the same as in human and mouse. Conclusion: We showed that the porcine Nanog gene is located on porcine chromosome 5 and its basal transcriptional activity is controlled by Sp1 transcription factor.