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Genes associated with survival of female bovine blastocysts produced in vivo

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A Correction to this article was published on 10 November 2020

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Abstract

The objective was to characterize the transcriptome profile of in vivo–derived female embryos competent to establish and maintain gestation. Blastocysts from superovulated heifers were bisected to generate two demi-embryos. One demi-embryo was transferred into a synchronized recipient and the other part was used for RNA-seq analysis. Data on transcript abundance was analyzed for 4 demi-embryos that established and maintained pregnancy to day 60 (designated as PP) and 3 that did not result in a pregnancy at day 30 (designated as NP). Using a false discovery rate of P < 0.10 as cutoff, a total of 155 genes were differentially expressed between PP and NP embryos, of which 73 genes were upregulated and 82 genes were downregulated in the PP group. The functional cluster with the greatest enrichment score for embryos that survived, representing 28 genes (48% of the annotated genes), was related to membrane proteins, particularly those related to olfaction and neural development and function. The functional cluster with the greatest enrichment score for downregulated genes in embryos that survived included terms related to oxidative phosphorylation, mitochondrial function, and transmembrane proteins. In conclusion, competence of in vivo–derived female bovine embryos to survive after transfer is associated with increased expression of genes encoding transmembrane proteins, perhaps indicative of differentiation of the inner cell mass to epiblast, and decreased expression of genes involved in oxidative phosphorylation, perhaps indicative of reduced metabolic activity.

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Change history

  • 10 November 2020

    The first error is on page 5. A sentence lists two genes as SCNA1A and SCNA2A but they should be SCN1A and SCN2A.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the owners and staff of Halbert Dairy Farm, Battle Creek, MI, for the use of heifers. The authors also thank Franca Rings of the University of Bonn for training with embryo bisection.

Funding

Research was supported by Zoetis Inc., NIH R01 HD088352 and the L.E. “Red” Larson Endowment.

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Authors

Contributions

AMZ, JB, JJB, GR, and PJH designed the study; experimental procedures were carried out by AMZ, JB, and GR; analysis of data was performed by AMZ, MBR, and PJH; the first draft of the paper was prepared by AMZ; and all authors contributed to preparation of the final version of the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to P. J. Hansen.

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All animal procedures were approved by the University of Florida Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. The owner of the animals provided written consent for their use in the experiment. There were no human subjects so informed consent was not required.

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The authors declare there is no conflict of interest.

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Zolini, A.M., Block, J., Rabaglino, M.B. et al. Genes associated with survival of female bovine blastocysts produced in vivo. Cell Tissue Res 382, 665–678 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-020-03257-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-020-03257-y

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