Mammalian nuclear transplantation to Germinal Vesicle stage Xenopus oocytes - a method for quantitative transcriptional reprogramming.

ABSTRACT: Full-grown Xenopus oocytes in first meiotic prophase contain an immensely enlarged nucleus, the Germinal Vesicle (GV), that can be injected with several hundred somatic cell nuclei. When the nuclei of mammalian somatic cells or cultured cell lines are injected into a GV, a wide range of genes that are not transcribed in the donor cells, including pluripotency genes, start to be transcriptionally activated, and synthesize primary transcripts continuously for several days. Because of the large size and abundance of Xenopus laevis oocytes, this experimental system offers an opportunity to understand the mechanisms by which somatic cell nuclei can be reprogrammed to transcribe genes characteristic of oocytes and early embryos. The use of mammalian nuclei ensures that there is no background of

SUBMITTER: Halley-Stott RP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2877800 | biostudies-literature | 2010 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature