Knockout of Rlim Results in a Sex Ratio Shift toward Males but Superovulation Cannot Compensate for the Reduced Litter Size.

ABSTRACT: Technologies that can preselect offspring gender hold great promise for improving farm animal productivity and preventing human sex-related hereditary diseases. The maternal Rlim allele is required for imprinted X-chromosome inactivation, which is essential for the normal development of female mouse embryos. In this study, we inactivated the maternal Rlim allele in embryos by crossing a male transgenic mouse line carrying an X-linked CMV-Cre transgene with a female line carrying a loxP-flanked Rlim gene. Knockout of the maternal Rlim gene in embryos resulted in a male-biased sex ratio skew in the offspring. However, it also reduced litter size, and this effect was not compensated for by superovulation in the mother mice. In addition, we showed that

SUBMITTER: Peng J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10044649 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature