Overexpression of IGF2R and IGF1R mRNA in SCNT-produced goats survived to adulthood

Abstract

The procedure of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is likely to affect the expression level of growth-related genes especially imprinting genes. In this study, expressions of growth-related genes including three imprinting genes (H19, IGF2, and IGF2R) and four non-imprinting genes (IGF1, IGF1R, GHR, and GHSR) in adult nuclear transferred (NT) goats were investigated by real-time PCR. The expressions of these genes in adult clones were found largely normal, but IGF2R and IGF1R were more highly expressed in cloned goats than in non-NT goats (P < 0.01). Analysis on mono-allelic expression pattern of imprinting genes indicated that mono-allelic expression patterns of H19 and IGF2 in cloned goats were similar to that in non-NT goats. In addition, the sequence of goat IGF2 gene and the putative amino acid sequence were obtained. The 986 nucleotide cDNA of goat IGF2 gene contained an open-reading frame of 540 nucleotides coding for 179 amino acids. Both cDNA sequence and amino acid sequence of IGF2 in goat showed their higher homology with that in sheep than in cattle; the partial cDNA fragments of H19, IGF2R, GHSR, IGF1R, and GHR in goat were also cloned and sequenced, which shared higher sequence identities with those in sheep than in cattle.