Cloning and analysis of IFRG (interferon responsive gene) in rabbit oocytes and preimplantation embryos.

Although there is more evidence that shows that IFNs (interferons) plays a very important role in the early development of the embryo, the mechanism of IFNs is still unclear. Our study showed that IFRG is expressed from oocytes- through to the preimplantation embryo in rabbits. This finding provides some clues for better understanding the role of IFNs in the development of the embryo. The full length of rabbit IFRG cDNA (Accession No. AJ584672), with a 2794bp encoding 131 amino acid sequence, was cloned IFRG expression can be detected in 8 different tissues: ovary, heart, lung, liver, kidney, spleen, cerebra, and the 18-day whole-body embryo. Whole-mount in situ hybridization showed that IFRG was highly expressed in the inner-cell mass of rabbit blastula. IFRG may play an important role in embryo development and tissue differentiation.