Submitted March 28, 2006
Returned for revision April 13, 2006
Accepted April 20, 2006
Reproductive Technology
Cloned Transgenic Swine Via In Vitro Production and
Cryopreservation
Rongfeng Li ,
Linagxue Lai ,
David Wax ,
Yanhong Hao ,
Clifton Murphy ,
August Rieke ,
Melissa Samuel ,
Mike Linville ,
Scott Korte ,
Rhobert Evans ,
James Turk ,
Jing Kang ,
William Witt ,
Yifan Dai ,
and
R. S. Prather *
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: pratherr{at}missouri.edu.
Abstract
It has been notoriously difficult to successfully
cryopreserve swine embryos, a task that has been even more
difficult for in vitro produced embryos. The first
reproducible method of cryopreserving in vivo produced
swine embryos was after centrifugation and removal of the
lipids. Here we report the adaptation of a similar process
that permits the cryopreservation of somatic cell nuclear
transfer (SCNT) swine embryos. These embryos develop to
the blastocyst stage, and survive cryopreservation.
Transfer of 163 frozen-thawed SCNT embryos to two
surrogates produced ten piglets. Application of this
technique may permit national and international movement
of cloned transgenic swine embryos, storage until a
suitable surrogate is available, or the long term frozen
storage of valuable genetics.
Key words:
Assisted Reproductive Technology •
Early development
