Biomaterial Database

Epigenetic Reprogramming and Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer. 2023

Luna N Vargas, and Márcia M Silveira, and Maurício M Franco

Laboratory of Animal Reproduction, Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil.

Epigenetics is an area of genetics that studies the heritable modifications in gene expression and phenotype that are not controlled by the primary sequence of DNA. The main epigenetic mechanisms are DNA methylation, post-translational covalent modifications in histone tails, and non-coding RNAs. During mammalian development, there are two global waves of epigenetic reprogramming. The first one occurs during gametogenesis and the second one begins immediately after fertilization. Environmental factors such as exposure to pollutants, unbalanced nutrition, behavioral factors, stress, in vitro culture conditions can negatively affect epigenetic reprogramming events. In this review, we describe the main epigenetic mechanisms found during mammalian preimplantation development (e.g., genomic imprinting, X chromosome inactivation). Moreover, we discuss the detrimental effects of cloning by somatic cell nuclear transfer on the reprogramming of epigenetic patterns and some molecular alternatives to minimize these negative impacts.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008322	Mammals	Warm-blooded vertebrate animals belonging to the class Mammalia, including all that possess hair and suckle their young.	Mammalia,Mammal
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D044127	Epigenesis, Genetic	A genetic process by which the adult organism is realized via mechanisms that lead to the restriction in the possible fates of cells, eventually leading to their differentiated state. Mechanisms involved cause heritable changes to cells without changes to DNA sequence such as DNA METHYLATION; HISTONE modification; DNA REPLICATION TIMING; NUCLEOSOME positioning; and heterochromatization which result in selective gene expression or repression.	Epigenetic Processes,Epigenetic Process,Epigenetics Processes,Genetic Epigenesis,Process, Epigenetic,Processes, Epigenetic,Processes, Epigenetics
D053652	Nuclear Transfer Techniques	Methods of implanting a CELL NUCLEUS from a donor cell into an enucleated acceptor cell.	Nuclear Transplantation,Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer Technique,Nuclear Transfer Technique,Transplantation, Nuclear
D018392	Genomic Imprinting	The variable phenotypic expression of a GENE depending on whether it is of paternal or maternal origin, which is a function of the DNA METHYLATION pattern. Imprinted regions are observed to be more methylated and less transcriptionally active. (Segen, Dictionary of Modern Medicine, 1992)	Genetic Imprinting,Parental Imprinting,Imprinting, Genetic,Imprinting, Genomic,Imprinting, Parental
D019175	DNA Methylation	Addition of methyl groups to DNA. DNA methyltransferases (DNA methylases) perform this reaction using S-ADENOSYLMETHIONINE as the methyl group donor.	DNA Methylations,Methylation, DNA,Methylations, DNA
D019976	Cloning, Organism	The formation of one or more genetically identical organisms derived by vegetative reproduction from a single cell. The source nuclear material can be embryo-derived, fetus-derived, or taken from an adult somatic cell.	Cloning, Embryo,Cloning, Human,Embryo Cloning,Human Cloning,Cloning,Clonings, Embryo,Clonings, Human,Clonings, Organism,Embryo Clonings,Human Clonings,Organism Cloning,Organism Clonings