Gynogenetic Activation of Porcine Oocytes

Abstract

The possibility of fertilization without male contribution to the embryonic genome was investigated in pig oocytes. Mature oocytes were co-incubated with sperm, and in an attempt to prevent the incorporation of the sperm head into the ooplasm, the actin polymerization inhibitor cytochalasin B was added to the fertilization medium. We found that perturbing actin filament integrity did not affect the pattern of the sperm-induced Ca(2+) signal or the process of cortical granule exocytosis, and it did not alter the percentage of activated oocytes compared to the control (oocytes fertilized in the absence of the inhibitor). However, over 20% of the cytochalasin B-treated oocytes formed only a single pronucleus after fertilization, indicating that the inhibitor blocked sperm head incorporation at least in some oocytes. In most cases, cytochalasin B also prevented the integration of the male chromosomes into the embryonic genome as determined by the absence of the SRY gene in the embryonic blastomeres or by the frequency of embryos showing green fluorescence after sperm from a GFP-transgenic boar was used for fertilization. Finally, the percentage of embryos that developed beyond the four-cell stage and the total number of nuclei in the resultant blastocysts were higher when oocytes reconstructed by nuclear transfer were activated by fertilization in the presence of cytochalasin B compared to the control group, where activation was induced by electroporation. These results suggest that fertilization in the presence of cytochalasin B can induce oocyte activation while it also prevents integration of the male genome into the embryo. This method has the potential to be used as an alternative to inducing embryonic development after nuclear transfer.