Reprogramming mammalian nuclei in xenopus egg extracts

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Project objective

Recent studies demonstrate that somatic cells can be reprogrammed and give rise to offspring after transfer into enucleated oocytes. However, the mechanisms of reprogramming of somatic nuclei are not fully elucidated. Failure in reprogramming is suggested to be the main reason for low development after nuclear transplantation in mammals. The objective of this project is to study the remodeling of mammalian somatic nuclei exposed to Xenopus egg extracts (XE) prior to nuclear transplantation. Three reasons support the use of XE for this project. First, XE are an excellent source of egg cytoplasm for the study nuclear-cytoplasmic interactions. Second, remodeling of mammalian nuclei has been reported after incubation in cell-free extracts of Xenopus eggs. Third, this interspecific laboratory model might be important for elucidating be universality of certain cellular processes. Moreover it may be helpful for the identification of markers of reprogramming. we expect to obtain information on chromatin remodeling at the structural and molecular level, to find markers for reprogramming and finally to generate animals after embryo transfer from cells reprogrammed in XE extracts.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

• UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM · NOTTINGHAMCoordinatorUnited Kingdom

Links

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