哺乳动物手工克隆的研究进展

体细胞核移植技术(Somatic cell nuclear transfer,SCNT)基本上分为传统克隆(Traditional cloning,TC)和手工克隆(Handmade cloning,HMC)。虽然随着SCNT的推进,科研人员已经利用TC成功克隆出多种动物,但这种方法需要使用昂贵的显微操作仪,并且克隆效率较低。因此,TC逐渐被新方法HMC替代,HMC是一种通过手工操作将体细胞与两个去核的半卵母细胞融合、激活,并在培养系统中培养后产生胚胎的方法。HMC不仅操作程序简单、不需要显微操作仪、成本较低,还可以提高囊胚率,使克隆技术向生产应用又迈进了一大步。主要对HMC的操作程序、表观遗传重编程异常和HMC重编程异常修复进行了综述,并对HMC进行了展望,以期能够更好地将其应用到生产中去。     

体细胞核移植生产绵羊转hALR基因囊胚

扩增人肝细胞再生增强因子(human augmenter of liver regeneration,ALR)基因,利用质粒pIRES2-EGFP 构建新霉素(Neo)、增强绿色荧光蛋白(enhanced green fluorescence protein,EGFP)双标记基因且EGFP和ALR基因为双顺反子的真核表达载体.LipofectAMINETM介导其转染体外培养的绵羊胎儿成纤维细胞(sheep fetal fibroblast cells,sFFCs);经G418筛选转基因细胞;激光共聚焦显微镜挑选绿色荧光单克隆细胞.PCR、RT-PCR和免疫组织化学方法进一步检测ALR基因及其表达;稳定表达外源基因的sFFCs作供体,移入去核的绵羊卵母细胞中,进行体细胞核移植.通过激光共聚焦显微镜和ALR抗体检测EGFP、ALR基因在胚胎水平上的表达,其结果表明:由IRES连接的EGFP和ALR基因可在绵羊胎儿成纤维细胞内同时表达,由此细胞核移植产生的转基因胚胎在发育的各阶段均可见绿色荧光;囊胚中所有细胞表达EGFP基因;发绿色荧光的胚胎中ALR基因同时存在.因此,由IRES连接标记基因和目的基因,以标记基因指示目的基因的表达,可简化检测目的基因的繁琐手段;用筛选的转基因早期胚胎进行移植,可提高制备转基因动物的效率.     

桂科Ⅰ号成年公猪体细胞核移植胚胎的体外生产

目前,关于桂科Ⅰ号猪体细胞核移植胚胎体外发育的研究尚未见报道。本研究结果表明,桂科Ⅰ号成年公猪来源的皮肤成纤维细胞(adult boar fibroblast cell,ABFC)和刚出生小公猪来源的皮肤成纤维细胞(newborn boar fibroblast cell,NBFC)对体细胞核移植(somatic cell nuclear transfer,SCNT)胚胎的体外发育没有明显影响;在体外环境培养下,一种组蛋白去乙酰化酶抑制剂—Scriptaid(SCR)对桂科Ⅰ号公猪SCNT胚胎的囊胚率具有促进作用。研究进行3个实验,实验一结果表明,细胞呈现典型的成纤维细胞形态,且生长呈现S型;实验二结果表明,通过将ABFC与NBFC注射到去核的卵母细胞制作SCNT胚胎,ABFC和NBFC来源的桂科Ⅰ号公猪SCNT胚胎的融合率、分裂率、囊胚率和囊胚细胞数没有明显的差异(53.2%vs 61.7%,p0.05;72.3%vs 75.7%,p0.05;11.9%vs 11.7%,p0.05;60.7 vs 57.5,p0.05);实验三结果表明,通过500 nmol/L SCR处理ABFC来源的SCNT胚胎,与对照组相比,处理组的分裂率和囊胚细胞数没有明显的差异(82.6%vs 80.1%,p0.05;42.9 vs 41.4,p0.05);但添加500 nmol/L SCR的ABFC来源的SCNT胚胎的囊胚率明显比对照组的高(21.6%vs 11.5%,p0.05)。数据表明桂科Ⅰ号成年公猪体细胞可作为供体细胞生产克隆胚胎,并且在体外环境培养下,通过500 nmol/L SCR处理极大地提高克隆胚胎的囊胚率,本研究可为下一步生产存活的桂科Ⅰ号SCNT猪奠定基础。     

核移植技术研究进展

核移植(nuelear transplation,NT)是将动物早期胚胎或体细胞的细胞核移植到去核的受精卵或成熟卵母细胞中、重新构建新的胚胎,使重构胚发育为与供核细胞基因型相同后代的技术过程,又称动物克隆技术。广义的胚胎克隆技术还包括胚胎分割和卵裂球培养,通常所指的胚胎克隆技术是指狭义概念,即核移植技术。1938年Spmann在所有胚胎细胞都具有与受精卵完全相同、拥有潜在发育全能性的细胞核基础上提出了细胞核移植的概念[‘1。早期核移植实验是在变形虫、蛙、爪蟾、非洲爪蛙等两栖类和鱼类上进行的核质关系研究〔“一“〕,随着胚胎技术的不断进步…     

奶牛体细胞核移植胚胎产业化生产条件优化北大核心CSCD

通过优化高产奶牛体细胞克隆胚胎体外生产技术条件,制备高质量的奶牛克隆胚胎,旨在提高奶牛体细胞核移植产业化应用效率。就受体卵母细胞去核方法、不同年龄供体牛细胞来源、血清饥饿与否以及不同气相组成培养等条件对奶牛体细胞克隆胚胎生产效率的影响进行了研究和探讨。结果表明,虽然荧光染色辅助去核和盲吸法的去核率、囊胚发育率分别为100%、24.83%和92.44%、28.26%,两者之间无显著差异(P>0.05),但盲吸法操作简单、效率高;不同年龄来源供体牛的细胞系构建的克隆胚胎的囊胚发育率分别为31.43%、25.68%,两者之间没有显著差异(P>0.05);经血清饥饿和未饥饿供体细胞重构的克隆胚胎囊胚发育率分别为24%、29.9%,两者之间没有显著差(P>0.05);富氧和低氧气相培养的克隆胚胎的囊胚发育率分别为28.26%、31.55%,两者之间差异不显著(P>0.05),低氧气相组成更有利于囊胚的发育。根据上述结果,奶牛体细胞核移植胚胎(克隆胚胎)的产业化生产条件为:供体细胞无需进行同期饥饿处理,直接注入到盲吸去核后的受体卵子透明带下构建克隆胚胎,融合后的克隆胚胎在密封的混合三气(5%CO2-5%O2-90%N2)的气相组成下进行体外培养,能保持稳定的囊胚发育率。     

利用体细胞核移植技术制作人胰岛素原转基因牛 （英文）

通过体细胞核移植技术制作了人胰岛素原转基因牛。在CMV启动子指导下以内部核糖体进入位点序列(IRES)连接的新霉素抗性基因和绿色荧光蛋白基因组成了双重标记基因的筛选系统,用于转基因细胞的富集以及细胞和植入前胚胎的筛选。转基因通过电穿孔的方法(900V/cm,5ms)转入体外培养的牛胎儿成纤维细胞,基因转染细胞在添加G418 (800μg/mL)的培养基中培养10天以富集转基因细胞。选择表达绿色荧光蛋白的转基因细胞作为核供体进行体细胞核移植,重构胚经体外培养至囊胚阶段,选择表达绿色荧光蛋白的囊胚进行胚胎移植。为比较基因转染以及供体细胞所处周期对转基因细胞核移植胚胎发育的影响,用作核移植供体的转基因细胞或非转基因细胞先饥饿培养2—4天(0.5 ?S) ,然后恢复培养(10?S) 10 h使细胞同步化于G1期,以正常培养的细胞作为对照进行核移植。结果表明,转基因细胞作为核供体得到的核移植胚胎的体外囊胚发育率低于以非转基因细胞为核供体的对照组(23.2% VS 35.2 %,P<0.05) ;转基因细胞周期同步化处理与否对其克隆胚囊胚发育率无显著影响(23.2% VS 18.9 %,P>0.05)。胚胎移植后2个月直肠检查发现7头受体牛(每头移植2—4枚胚胎)中有一头妊娠,并最终发育足月产下一头小牛。聚合酶链反应(PCR)检测和DNA测序分析表明其为转人胰岛素原基因的转基因克隆牛。     

大熊猫供核体细胞在兔卵胞质中可去分化而支持早期重构胚发育

体外培养的成年大熊猫骨骼肌细胞、子宫上皮细胞和乳腺细胞 ,分别作为供核细胞移植进入去核兔卵母细胞中以构建异种重构胚 .3种组织来源的体细胞在去核兔卵质中均可去分化、恢复全能性和替代合子核进行卵裂 ,并支持早期重构胚发育 .其中以乳腺细胞效果最好 ,子官上皮细胞次之 ,骨骼肌细胞最差 .对比实验表明 ,胞质直接注射法结合重构卵在体培养可比电融合法加体外培养方案获得更大比例的囊胚率 .染色体分析表明异种重构胚的核遗传物质来自大熊猫供体体细胞核 .线粒体DNA分析表明重构囊胚中存在有大熊猫线粒体 .这些结果初步说明 :( 1 )卵胞质使体细胞核去分化不具种特异性 ;( 2 )哺乳动物异种重构胚早期发育中 ,异种细胞核与细胞质之间是相容的 .     

牛体细胞核移植显微操作环节的优化

本研究从牛卵母细胞去核方法(纺锤体观测仪法&Hoechst33342染色法)、供体细胞核引入去核卵细胞质的方法(卵细胞质注射法和电融合法)和重构胚胎电融合(3组参数)等3个环节对牛体细胞核移植的显微操作过程及相关参数进行了筛选优化。以核移植胚胎的卵裂率、囊胚发育率作为检测指标,对不同的方法所获得的克隆胚胎的卵分裂率与囊胚发育率进行比较,最后筛选获得1个优化的牛体细胞核移植操作程序,即采用Spindle view系统对牛卵母细胞进行去核操作,将供核体细胞注射到卵周隙,然后通过电融合法将供体核引入去核卵细胞质(电融合参数为1.9kV/cm,脉冲时程10μs,方波2次间隔2s)。以此核移植程序进行牛体细胞核移植实验,自获得克隆胚胎中筛选80枚优质囊胚移植到33头受体牛子宫内,最后2头母牛产下2头克隆牛犊,结果表明利用该优化的显微操作环节进行牛体细胞核移植可以获得体细胞克隆牛犊。     

猪卵母细胞体外成熟的发育潜力及核移植重构胚构建方法的研究

为了提高猪体细胞核移植重构胚发育潜力,本研究对体外成熟28 h、32 h、36 h、40 h、44 h、48 h、52 h和56 h的猪卵母细胞分别进行去核构建重构胚.研究结果表明,成熟44 h的卵母细胞核移植后有较高的融合率(58.99%)、卵裂率(67.52%)和囊胚率(22.78%),而成熟48 h的卵母细胞则分别为56.51%、65.73%和15.96%;且卵龄为44 h的卵母细胞核移植后分裂率与囊胚率显著高于卵龄为40 h、36 h、32 h、28 h的卵母细胞的分裂率与囊胚率(P＜0.05).卵龄为48 h的卵母细胞融合率高于卵龄为52 h卵母细胞的融合率(P＜0.05).同时我们还探讨了不同去核方法(盲吸法、Hochest33342染色法和Spindle-view system)对猪体细胞核移植重构胚发育能力的影响.研究结果发现,盲吸法、Hoechest33342染色法和Spindle-view system法的去核率分别达到76.33%,100.00%和98.40%.Hoechest染色法去核率显著高于盲吸法的去核率(P＞0.05),而与Spindle-view法去核率没有差异(P＞0.05).三种方法在融合率和囊胚率方面差异不显著(P＞0.05),但Hoechest染色法的分裂率较低,差异显著(P＜0.05).进一步的研究表明,细胞质内注射进行核移植构建重构胚的分裂率和囊胚率分别为68.13%和6.44%;透明带下注射法则为60.37%和8.08%,两者差异不显著(P＜0.05);两者均可运用于猪体细胞的核移植,这为建立有效的猪体细胞核移植体系提供了参考.     

利用体细胞核移植技术制作人胰岛素原转基因牛

通过体细胞核移植技术制作了人胰岛素原转基因牛。在CMV启动子指导下以内部核糖体进入位点序列（IRES）连接的新霉素抗性基因和绿色荧光蛋白基因组成了双重标记基因的筛选系统，用于转基因细胞的富集以及细胞和植入前胚胎的筛选。转基因通过电穿孔的方法（900 V/cm, 5 ms）转入体外培养的牛胎儿成纤维细胞，基因转染细胞在添加G418(800 μg/mL) 的培养基中培养10天以富集转基因细胞。选择表达绿色荧光蛋白的转基因细胞作为核供体进行体细胞核移植，重构胚经体外培养至囊胚阶段，选择表达绿色荧光蛋白的囊胚进行胚胎移植。为比较基因转染以及供体细胞所处周期对转基因细胞核移植胚胎发育的影响，用作核移植供体的转基因细胞或非转基因细胞先饥饿培养2—4天(0.5% FBS)，然后恢复培养(10% FBS)10?h使细胞同步化于G1期，以正常培养的细胞作为对照进行核移植。 结果表明，转基因细胞作为核供体得到的核移植胚胎的体外囊胚发育率低于以非转基因细胞为核供体的对照组(23.2% VS 35.2%, P<0.05)；转基因细胞周期同步化处理与否对其克隆胚囊胚发育率无显著影响（23.2% VS 18.9%, P>0.05）。胚胎移植后2个月直肠检查发现7头受体牛（每头移植2—4枚胚胎）中有一头妊娠，并最终发育足月产下一头小牛。聚合酶链反应（PCR）检测和DNA测序分析表明其为转人胰岛素原基因的转基因克隆牛。     

Generation of Knock-In Pigs Carrying Oct4-tdTomato Reporter through CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Genome Engineering

The porcine pluripotent cells that can generate germline chimeras have not been developed. The Oct4 promoter-based fluorescent reporter system, which can be used to monitor pluripotency, is an important tool to generate authentic porcine pluripotent cells. In this study, we established a porcine Oct4 reporter system, wherein the endogenous Oct4 promoter directly controls red fluorescent protein (RFP). 2A-tdTomato sequence was inserted to replace the stop codon of the porcine Oct4 gene by homogenous recombination (HR). Thus, the fluorescence can accurately show the activation of endogenous Oct4. Porcine fetal fibroblast (PFF) lines with knock-in (KI) of the tdTomato gene in the downstream of endogenous Oct4 promoter were achieved using the CRISPR/CAS9 system. Transgenic PFFs were used as donor cells for somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Strong RFP expression was detected in the blastocysts and genital ridges of SCNT fetuses but not in other tissues. Two viable transgenic piglets were also produced by SCNT. Reprogramming of fibroblasts from the fetuses and piglets by another round of SCNT resulted in tdTomato reactivation in reconstructed blastocysts. Result indicated that a KI porcine reporter system to monitor the pluripotent status of cells was successfully developed.     

Efficiency of gene transfection into donor cells for nuclear transfer of bovine embryos

The production of transgenic (TG) animals by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) has proven to be a more efficient method than other methods, such as gene injection or sperm mediation. The present study was intended to evaluate the efficiency of gene transfection by Effectene (Qiagen, Inc.), a lipid-based reagent compared to electroporation in fetal-derived fibroblast cells (FFC), cumulus-derived fibroblast cells (CFC), and adult ear skin-derived fibroblast cells (AEFC). Parameters compared were factors such as chromosome abnormality, gene expression, and the incidence of apoptosis. Further, the TG embryos with transfected donor cells generated by electroporation or Effectene were compared to IVF and SCNT embryos in terms of rates of cleavage, blastocyst formation, and blastocyst cell number. Most of the cells (>80%) at confluence were at G0/G1 and considered to be suitable nuclear donors for cloning. Transfection with a plasmid containing the enhanced green fluorescent protein (pEGFP-N1) gene into FFC did not increase the incidence of chromosomal abnormalities. The rates of apoptosis in different cell types transfected with pEGFP-N1 were 3.3%-5.0%, and the values did not differ among groups. In addition, the rates of apoptosis in various cells between 5-7 and 20-22 cell passages did not differ. However, the efficiency of gene transfecton into FFC by Effectene reagent (14.2 +/- 1.7) was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than that obtained by electroporation (5.1 +/- 1.0). Among various cell types, the efficiency of gene transfection by Effectene and eletroporation of FFC (14.2 +/- 1.7 and 5.1 +/- 1.0, respectively) was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than transfection of CFC and AEFC by either method (9.4 +/- 1.5 and 3.3 +/- 0.8, 8.8 +/- 0.7, and 2.1 +/- 0.4, respectively). In TG embryos produced by SCNT with electroporation and Effectene, the rates of cleavage and blastocyst formation were significantly lower (P < 0.05) than those of IVF controls, but rates did not differ between SCNT and TG embryos. Similarly, significantly higher (P < 0.05) total cell numbers in day-8 blastocysts were observed in IVF controls than those in SCNT and TG embryos, but did not differ between SCNT and TG (136 vs. approximately 110, respectively). The results demonstrated that, though there were no difference in the rates of chromosomal aneuploidy and the incidence of apoptosis among various cell types, transfected with or without pEGFP-N1, FFC were the cell type most effectively transfected and Effectene was a suitable agent for transfection.     

Abnormal chromosome segregation at early cleavage is a major cause of the full-term developmental failure of mouse clones

To clarify the causes of the poor success rate of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), we addressed the impact of abnormalities observed at early cleavage stages of development on further full-term development using 'less-damage' imaging technology. To visualize the cellular and nuclear division processes, SCNT embryos were injected with a mixture of mRNAs encoding enhanced green fluorescent protein coupled with α-tubulin (EGFP-α-tubulin) and monomeric red fluorescent protein 1 coupled with histone H2B (H2B-mRFP1) and monitored until the morula/blastocyst stage three-dimensionally. First, the rate of development of SCNT embryos and its effect on the full-term developmental ability were analyzed. The speed of development was retarded and varied in SCNT embryos. Despite the rate of development, SCNT morulae having more than eight cells at 70h after activation could develop to term. Next, chromosomal segregation was investigated in SCNT embryos during early embryogenesis. To our surprise, more than 90% of SCNT embryos showed abnormal chromosomal segregation (ACS) before they developed to morula stage. Importantly, ACS per se did not affect the rate of development, morphology or cellular differentiation in preimplantation development. However, ACS occurring before the 8-cell stage severely inhibited postimplantation development. Thus, the morphology and/or rate of development are not significant predictive markers for the full-term development of SCNT embryos. Moreover, the low efficiency of animal cloning may be caused primarily by genetic abnormalities such as ACS, in addition to the epigenetic errors described previously.     

Isolation, characterization, gene modification, and nuclear reprogramming of porcine mesenchymal stem cells

Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are adult pluripotent cells that are considered to be an important resource for human cell-based therapies. Understanding the clinical potential of MSCs may require their use in preclinical large-animal models, such as pigs. The objectives of the present study were 1) to establish porcine MSC (pMSC) cultures; 2) to optimize in vitro pMSC culture conditions, 3) to investigate whether pMSCs are amenable to genetic manipulation, and 4) to determine pMSC reprogramming potential using somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). The pMSCs isolated from bone marrow grew, attached to plastic with a fibroblast-like morphology, and expressed the mesenchymal surface marker THY1 but not the hematopoietic marker ITGAM. Furthermore, pMSCs underwent lipogenic, chondrogenic, and osteogenic differentiation when exposed to specific inducing conditions. The pMSCs grew well in a variety of media, and proliferative capacity was enhanced by culture under low oxygen atmosphere. Transient transduction of pMSCs and isogenic skin fibroblasts (SFs) with a human adenovirus carrying the gene for green fluorescent protein (GFP; Ad5-F35eGFP) resulted in more pMSCs expressing GFP compared with SFs. Cell lines with stable genetic modifications and extended expression of transgene were obtained when pMSCs were transfected with a plasmid containing the GFP gene. Infection of pMSC and SF cell lines by an adeno-associated virus resulted in approximately 12% transgenic cells, which formed transgenic clonal lines after propagation as single cells. The pMSCs can be expanded in vitro and used as nuclear donors to produce SCNT embryos. Thus, pMSCs are an attractive cell type for large-animal autologous and allogenic cell therapy models and for SCNT transgenesis.     

Nuclear reprogramming in embryos generated by the transfer of yak (Bos grunniens) nuclei into bovine oocytes and comparison with bovine-bovine SCNT and bovine IVF embryos

Although inter-species SCNT may be useful for increasing and preserving populations of endangered species, there are many reports that inter-species nuclear transfer embryos only develop to the blastocyst stage. In this study, yak-bovine SCNT blastocysts were successfully implanted in the surrogate bovine uterus but failed to develop to term or aborted. To clarify the reasons, we examined yak-bovine SCNT blastocyst development, total cell number, inner cell mass (ICM) number, trophoblast (TE) cell number and relative gene expression in yak fibroblast cells and yak-bovine SCNT embryos at various stages. The potential for development of yak-bovine SCNT embryos to blastocysts was 30+/-5.7% (mean+/-S.E.M.); the total cell number was 85.3+/-16.3, fewer than in IVF bovine embryos (106.2+/-18.2) but within the reported range (60-300). The yak-bovine SCNT blastocysts had a lower ratio of TE cells to total cells (43.9+/-8.7%) than bovine IVF embryos (59.4+/-3.4%; P<0.05) or bovine-bovine SCNT (69.5+/-5.4%; P<0.05). Also, several yak-bovine SCNT embryos had abnormal initiation of expression of both Mash2 and IL6. However, expression of vimentin, collagen, Cx43 and PSMC3 were normal in yak fibroblast cells and yak-bovine SCNT embryos. In conclusion, we inferred that the normal allocation of ICM and TE cells in yak-bovine SCNT embryos and embryo-specific gene reprogramming may be important for successful inter-species animal cloning.     

Oxamflatin significantly improves nuclear reprogramming, blastocyst quality, and in vitro development of bovine SCNT embryos

Aberrant epigenetic nuclear reprogramming results in low somatic cloning efficiency. Altering epigenetic status by applying histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) enhances developmental potential of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryos. The present study was carried out to examine the effects of Oxamflatin, a novel HDACi, on the nuclear reprogramming and development of bovine SCNT embryos in vitro. We found that Oxamflatin modified the acetylation status on H3K9 and H3K18, increased total and inner cell mass (ICM) cell numbers and the ratio of ICM∶trophectoderm (TE) cells, reduced the rate of apoptosis in SCNT blastocysts, and significantly enhanced the development of bovine SCNT embryos in vitro. Furthermore, Oxamflatin treatment suppressed expression of the pro-apoptotic gene Bax and stimulated expression of the anti-apoptotic gene Bcl-XL and the pluripotency-related genes OCT4 and SOX2 in SCNT blastocysts. Additionally, the treatment also reduced the DNA methylation level of satellite I in SCNT blastocysts. In conclusion, Oxamflatin modifies epigenetic status and gene expression, increases blastocyst quality, and subsequently enhances the nuclear reprogramming and developmental potential of SCNT embryos.