Developmental potential of bovine embryos reconstructed from enucleated matured oocytes fused with cultured somatic cells.

Muscle and skin biopsies taken from bovine fetuses and young calves have been used as a source of donor nuclei for cloning experiments. After culture, cells were individually fused to enucleated matured oocytes and the resulting blastocysts obtained after 7 d of culture (3-8% depending on the cell type) were transferred to foster recipient heifers. Two calves, a female and a male, both originating from muscle cells were born, and four additional pregnancies have surpassed mild-term gestation. The pregnancies include one fetus established from a transgenic nucleus from a fetal skin cell, and another one resulting from a skin biopsy performed on a female calf. Our data demonstrate that nuclei from cultured bovine somatic cells obtained from differentiated tissues can be made multipotent.