Letter abstract
Nature Biotechnology 25, 1045 - 1050 (2007)
Published online: 19 August 2007 | doi:10.1038/nbt1331
High-frequency generation of viable mice from engineered bi-maternal embryos
Manabu Kawahara1,2, Qiong Wu1,2,4, Nozomi Takahashi1, Shinnosuke Morita1, Kaori Yamada1, Mitsuteru Ito3, Anne C Ferguson-Smith3 & Tomohiro Kono1,2
Mammalian development to adulthood typically requires both maternal and paternal genomes, because genomic imprinting places stringent limitations on mammalian development, strictly precluding parthenogenesis1, 2. Here we report the generation of bi-maternal embryos that develop at a high success rate equivalent to the rate obtained with in vitro fertilization of normal embryos. These bi-maternal mice developed into viable and fertile female adults. The bi-maternal embryos, distinct from parthenogenetic or gynogenetic conceptuses, were produced by the construction of oocytes from fully grown oocytes and nongrowing oocytes that contain double deletions in the H19 differentially methylated region (DMR) and the Dlk1-Dio3 intergenic germline–derived DMR. The results provide conclusive evidence that imprinted genes regulated by these two paternally methylated imprinting-control regions are the only paternal barrier that prevents the normal development of bi-maternal mouse fetuses to term.
- Department of BioScience Tokyo University of Agriculture, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 156-8502, Japan.
- Bio-oriented Technology Research Advancement Institution (BRAIN), Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0001, Japan.
- Department of Physiology, Development & Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Downing St., Cambridge CB2 3DY, UK.
- Present address: Department of Life Science and Engineering Harbin Institute of Technology, No.92, West Da-Zhi Street, Harbin, Heilongjiang.
Correspondence to: Tomohiro Kono1,2 e-mail: tomohiro@nodai.ac.jp
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