Bioscientifica Proceedings

Abstract unavailable© 2009 Society for Reproduction and Fertility...

Studies of low birth weight offspring have a long history in pig science. These pigs have reduced growth potential and poor carcass quality compared to their higher birth weight littermates. In contemporary commercial sows with between 10 and 15 total pigs born/litter, between-litter differences in average birth weight appear to make the largest contribution to variation in postnatal growth performance, independent of numbers born. Low birth weight is a characteristic of...

This chapter describes the application of functional genomic approaches to the study of imprinted genes in swine. While there are varied definitions of "functional genomics", in general they focus on the application of DNA microarrays, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays, and other high coverage genomic analyses, and their combination with downstream methods of gene modification such as silencing RNA (siRNA) and viral and non-viral transfection. Between the initi...

Cryopreservation of female germplasm has basic importance in preservation and distribution of genetic lines in farm animals. Although vitrification technology has been applied for the cryopreservation of porcine oocytes and ovarian tissues, reduced developmental competence of preserved oocytes and the lack of offspring produced from them underlines the importance for further developments in cryopreservation protocols for this purpose. This review discusses the problems o...

During mammalian diapause, the embryo is arrested at the blastocyst stage. In diapausing carnivores and marsupials, growth arrest of the blastocyst is coincident with a quiescent corpus luteum (CL). In the roe deer, progesterone is produced throughout diapause and the blastocyst exhibits very slow growth. To date, early roe deer embryos of known age have not been described. Therefore, it is not known at which stage and at what pace the roe deer embryo enters diapause. To colle...

The phenomenon of embryonic diapause has been reported to possibly affect ovarian follicular development. The aim of the current study was to identify the impact of the embryonic diapause period on follicle number and oocyte quality in the European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). In this species, the embryo undergoes five months of developmental delay. We have determined the antral follicle count (AFC), oocyte morphological quality, oocyte meiotic resumption capacity ...

Manipulation of the pig genome is currently restricted to the random insertion of new DNA using pronuclear microinjection. This method suffers from a number of inherent limitations, the majority of which result from the inability to control the site at which the transgene becomes integrated. These drawbacks, together with the need to be able to target existing genes, will result in the replacement of pronuclear injection by new methods that have the capability to direct i...

Numerous corpora lutea form from the multiple follicles that ovulate during the oestrous cycle of pigs. Vascular elements invade the follicle from the theca compartment, first centripetally, and subsequently by lateral branching of centripetal veins and arteries. The vessels are the vehicle for dispersion of steroidogenic theca cells throughout the corpus luteum. Mitosis occurs in both the theca and granulosa layers before ovulation, and in luteal cells well into the lut...

Abstract unavailable© 2009 Society for Reproduction and Fertility...

With the advent of next generation sequencing platforms (RNA-seq), transcriptional profiling permits the characterization of millions of RNAs from even the most limiting samples like early embryos. High-throughput RNA-seq can generate over 600 gigabases (Gb) in a single sequencing run, providing a near-complete record of all of the genes expressed in a sample at the time of collection. Condensing and finding coherence in the immense amount of raw data generated by transc...