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This study was conducted for SNPs in the 5'-regions of estrogen receptor-α(ESR-α), and association with calving interval (CI), service per conception (SPC) and 305 days milk yield in Hanwoo and Holstein dairy cattle. The genetic improvement was incurred low reproduction performance. The objective of this study was to investigate connections between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) of Estrogen receptor-α (ESR-α) with reproduction performance (calving interval, service per conception, and 305 d milk yield) in Hanwoo and Holstein dairy cattle. Hanwoo and Holstein blood samples were collected from 183 and 124 dam of breeding farms and DNA was extracted. Primer design was based on NCBI GenBank (Accession No. AY340579). The PCR-RFLP method with Bgl I was used to genotype the cattle. The result showed two variants of the ESR-α gene. The Bgl I cut the 492 bp amplification product into 322 bp and 170 bp fragments for allele G, while allele A remained uncut, resulting in two restriction fragments for homozygote G/G and three fragments for heterozygote A/G. We found two of different genotypes in these breeds, A/G and G/G. In Hanwoo, the A/G genotype frequency was 0.13, and G/G was 0.87. The CI of A/G was 382.18±10.03 days, and G/G was 381.69±5.22 days. The SPC of A/G was 1.62±0.16, and G/G was 1.32±0.04. While CI showed no significance difference, SPC exhibited significant difference (p

Sexed semen is commonly used for the production of calves of the desired gender. Gender selection is important in animal production industries. For example, female cattle are required for the dairy industry while males are preferred in the beef cattle industry. The present study was to assess the In Vivo embryo production efficiency using the semen separated according to sex during superovulation in Hanwoo. Seventy Hanwoo donor cows were flushed on day 7 of estrus cycle with same FSH and artificial insemination by the same technicians. Embryos were recovered on 7 days after the third insemination by flushing the uterus with embryo collection medium. KPN semen straws used artificial insemination contained 20 million sperm (total number 60 million per donor). Sex-sorted semen straws contained 4 million sperm (total number 12 million per donor). The results obtained were as follows: No differences were observed in the efficiency of superovulation rates on KPN semen 87%, and sexed semen 100%, respectively. The mean numbers of total embryos are each 12.58 ± 8.31 and 13.25 ± 7.86. The mean numbers of transferable embryos, sexed semen were significantly lower than KPN semen (3.75 ± 1.98 vs. 8.23 ± 6.07, p

Differentially regulated proteins within porcine somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT)-derived conceptuses were compared with conceptuses that were derived from natural matings on day 14 of pregnancy. Proteins that were expressed prominently on day 14 were identified in SCNT-derived conceptuses using 2-D PAGE and MALDI-TOF MS. Sixty eight proteins were identified as being differentially regulated in the SCNT-derived conceptuses. Among these, 62 were down-regulated whereas the other six proteins were up-regulated. Glycolytic proteins, such as pyruvate dehydrogenase, malate dehydrogenase and lactate dehydrogenase, were down-regulated in the SCNT-derived conceptuses whereas apoptosis-related genes as annexin V, Hsp60, and lamin A were up-regulated. Thus, apoptosis-related genes are expressed at significantly higher levels in the SCNT-derived conceptuses than in the control conceptuses, whereas metabolism-related genes are significantly reduced.

The technique of SCNT is now well established but still remains inefficient. The in vitro development of SCNT embryos is dependent upon numerous factors including the recipient cytoplast and karyoplast. Above all, the metaphase of the second meiotic division (MII) oocytes have typically become the recipient of choice. Generally high level of MPF present in MII oocytes induces the transferred nucleus to enter mitotic division precociously and causes NEBD and PCC, which may be the critical role for nuclear reprogramming. In the present study we investigated the in vitro development and pregnancy of White-Hanwoo SCNT embryos treated with caffeine (a protein kinase phosphatase inhibitor). As results, the treatment of 10 mM caffeine for 6 h significantly increased MPF activity in bovine oocytes but does not affect the developmental competence to the blastocyst stage in bovine SCNT embryos. However, a significant increase in the mean cell number of blastocysts and the frequency of pregnant on 150 days of White-Hanwoo SCNT embryos produced using caffeine treated cytoplasts was observed. These results indicated that the recipient cytoplast treated with caffeine for a short period prior to reconstruction of SCNT embryos is able to increase the frequency of pregnancy in cow.

bryos reconstructed by using donor cells: iPS cell vs. AID transfected cell* Tae Suk Kim1, Sang Ki Baek2, Song Yi Moon2, Sang Jin Jin2, Yeoung-Gyu Ko3, Sung Woo Kim3, Hae-Geum Park3, Hwan-Hoo Seong3 and Joon Hee Lee2 1Institute of Agriculture & Life Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, 660-701, Republic of Korea, Jin ju, Republic of Korea 2Animal Development & Biotechnology Group, Department of Animal Bioscience, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, Gyeongsang National University, Jin ju, Republic of Korea 3National Institute of Animal Science, Rural Development Administration, Namwon, Republic of Korea