Nuclear Transfer to Eggs and Oocytes
J. B. Gurdon1 and Ian Wilmut2
-Author Affiliations
1Wellcome Trust Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute, Cambridge CB2 1QN, United Kingdom, and Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QN, United Kingdom
2MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, Edinburgh EH16 4SB, United Kingdom
Correspondence: j.gurdon@gurdon.cam.ac.uk
Abstract
We review experiments in which somatic cell nuclei are transplanted singly to enucleated eggs (metaphase II) in amphibia and mammals and as multiple nuclei to the germinal vesicle of amphibian oocytes (prophase I). These experiments have shown the totipotency of some somatic cell nuclei, as well as switches in cell type and changes in gene expression. Abnormalities of nuclear transplant embryo development increase greatly as nuclei are taken from progressively more differentiated donor cells. The molecular changes that accompany the reprogramming of transplanted nuclei help to indicate the mechanisms used by eggs and oocytes to reprogram gene expression. We discuss the importance of chromosomal protein exchange, of transcription factor supply, and of chromatin access in reprogramming.
Copyright © 2011 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; all rights reserved
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