Identification of the Sex of Pre-implantation Mouse Embryos Using a Marked Y Chromosome and CRISPR/Cas9

Abstract

Although numerous attempts have been made to alter the sex ratio of the progeny of mammals, the limitations of current technologies have prevented their widespread use in farm animals. The presence or absence of a Y chromosome determines whether a mammalian embryo develops as a male or female, and non-invasive genetic reporters such as fluorescence protein markers have been intensively applied in a variety of fields of research. To develop a non-invasive and instantaneous method for advance determination of the sex of embryos, we developed a Y chromosome-linked eGFP mouse line that stably expresses green fluorescent protein under the control of the CAG promoter. The development of the CRISPR/Cas9 system has made it easy to deliver an exogenous gene to a specific locus of a genome, and linking a tracer to the Y chromosome has simplified the process of predicting the sex of embryos collected by mating a Y-Chr-eGFP transgenic male with a wild-type female. XY embryos appeared green, under a fluorescence microscope, and XX embryos did not. Y chromosome-linked genes were amplified by nested PCR to further confirm the accuracy of this method, and the simultaneous transplantation of green and non-green embryos into foster mothers indicated that 100% accuracy was achieved by this method. Thus, the Y-Chr-eGFP mouse line provides an expeditious and accurate approach for sexing pre-implantation embryos and can be efficiently used for the pre-selection of sex.