Bioscientifica Proceedings

Summary. Embryos of amphibians, sheep, cattle, pigs and rabbits have been multiplied by nuclear transfer. Successful nuclear transfer in these species has been accomplished by transfer of a blastomere from a late-stage embryo into an enucleated oocyte with large scale multiplication by repeating the procedure using blastomeres from the embryos produced from nuclear transfer. This allows the production of clonal lines which, when appropriately selected for perf...

In swine and other livestock, the uterine endometrium exhibits dramatic morphological and secretory changes throughout the oestrous cycle and during pregnancy. Such physiological changes are a reflection of extremely complex interactions between gene products (RNA and protein). The recent development of genomics and proteomics methods, as well as associated bioinformatics tools, has provided the means to begin characterising such interactions. Indeed, the analysis of the...

Embryogenesis is a complex process that is controlled at various levels. As new discoveries are made about molecular mechanisms that control development in other species, it is apparent that these same mechanisms regulate pig embryogenesis as well. Methylation of DNA and modification of histones regulate transcription, and mechanisms such as ubiquitinization, autophagy and microRNAs regulate development post-transcriptionally. Each of these systems of regulation is highl...