Nuclear Transfer-Specific Defects Are Not Apparent during the Second Week of Embryogenesis in Cattle

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (NT)-specific effects on postblastocyst early cattle embryogenesis were investigated by comparison to in vitro-produced (IVP) embryos grown under identical conditions to embryonic days (E) 14 and 15. Recipient effects were excluded by transferring mixed batches of NT and IVP embryos into each cow. Embryo recovery rates, proportions with an epiblast and embryo, as well as epiblast dimensions did not differ between NT and IVP embryos. A developmental expression profile was determined for nine trophoblast markers, two inner cell mass (ICM)/epiblast markers, and E-cadherin at nine time points between E7 and E26, providing a molecular gene signature assay for developmental progression. Gene expression levels for these genes (Cdx2, Elf5, Mash2, Ifn-tau, Furin, Kunitz1, Pag11, Gata3, Oct4 and Ifitm3) were equal in NT and IVP embryos of equivalent length. Furthermore, the average residual deviation of all 10 genes did not differ significantly suggesting an overall normality in gene expression of E14/15 NT embryos. The absence of NT-specific defects during the second, highly selective, week of cattle embryogenesis is interpreted as supportive for the view that NT-associated defects are predominantly of an epigenetic nature.