Analysis of expressed sequence tags from a cDNA library of somatic nuclear transfer-derived cloned bovine whole foetus.

The expression profile of genes in specific tissues is studied through analysing expressed sequence tags (ESTs) and provides useful information for characterizing gene function and tissue physiology. Analysis of ESTs is achieved by partial sequencing and characterization of clones isolated randomly from cDNA libraries. In the present study, we analysed the genes expressed in the somatic nuclear transfer-derived cloned bovine foetus in the early period of foetal development. To this aim, we constructed a directionally cloned cDNA library from somatic nuclear transfer-derived cloned 60 day-old whole foetus of cattle and sequenced 3′ end of 510 randomly isolated clones. By BLASTN analysis, we identified 403 unique clones: 186 showed homology to previously identified genes, 123 matched uncharacterized ESTs and 94 showed no significant matches to sequences already present in DNA databases. Analysis of these cDNA clones revealed that this library contained a variety of functional genes, while foetuin, insulin-like growth factor 2, collagen type I αI and maternal G10 transcript genes were the most abundant transcripts. Our study allowed the establishment of a first list of genes expressed in bovine whole foetus. In future, the list of genes might help facilitate the understanding of physiology of foetal development in somatic nuclear transfer-derived cloned bovine foetus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]