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Review
. 2022 Feb 10;23(4):1969.
doi: 10.3390/ijms23041969.

Strategies to Improve the Efficiency of Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer

Kanokwan Srirattana  1 , Masahiro Kaneda  2 , Rangsun Parnpai  1
Affiliations
Review

Strategies to Improve the Efficiency of Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer

Kanokwan Srirattana et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Mammalian oocytes can reprogram differentiated somatic cells into a totipotent state through somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), which is known as cloning. Although many mammalian species have been successfully cloned, the majority of cloned embryos failed to develop to term, resulting in the overall cloning efficiency being still low. There are many factors contributing to the cloning success. Aberrant epigenetic reprogramming is a major cause for the developmental failure of cloned embryos and abnormalities in the cloned offspring. Numerous research groups attempted multiple strategies to technically improve each step of the SCNT procedure and rescue abnormal epigenetic reprogramming by modulating DNA methylation and histone modifications, overexpression or repression of embryonic-related genes, etc. Here, we review the recent approaches for technical SCNT improvement and ameliorating epigenetic modifications in donor cells, oocytes, and cloned embryos in order to enhance cloning efficiency.

Keywords: cloning efficiency; embryo; epigenetic modification; nuclear reprogramming; somatic cell nuclear transfer.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Summary of strategies for cloning efficiency improvement.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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