STAR Protocols (Jun 2022)

Nuclear transfer system for the direct induction of embryonic transcripts from intra- and cross-species nuclei using mouse 4-cell embryos

  • Junko Tomikawa,
  • Christopher A. Penfold,
  • Rena Hatakeyama,
  • Kei Miyamoto

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 3, no. 2
p. 101284

Abstract

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Summary: Reprogramming of somatic nuclei toward the embryonic state has been studied using nuclear transfer (NT) to an oocyte at the metaphase II (MII) stage. In this NT, a somatic nucleus transplanted into an MII oocyte of the same species undergoes DNA replication and cell division before activating embryonic genes. Here, we describe a direct NT protocol using 4-cell stage mouse embryos that enables reprogramming of intra- and cross-species nuclei to express embryonic genes without requiring DNA replication and cell division.For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Tomikawa et al. (2021).

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