Gene Expression profile in preimplantation in vitro embryos derived from Prepubertal heifers and Adult Cattle

Age of the donor animal has a significant influence on the oocytes ability to complete maturation and acquire the mRNA and proteins required for normal embryonic development. It is well known that developmental competence is reduced in oocytes derived from juvenile animals when compared to that derived from adults. However, the molecular mechanisms associated with these differences are not well elucidated. The aim of this study was to analyze the transcriptome differences between adult versus prepubertal derived preimplantation embryos and to identify genes associated with oocyte developmental potential. We performed cDNA microarray analysis on populations of preimplantation embryos (8- to 16-cell and Day 7 blastocysts) derived from adult versus prepubertal Japanese Black cattle. Total RNA was extracted and amplified in a linear fashion and then subjected to the microarray hybridization using the Affymetrix GeneChip Bovine Genome Array. The Bovine Array contains 24 072 probe sets representing over 23000 transcripts and 19000 UniGene clusters.

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