BioProject

Assisted reproduction technologies (ART) and high selection pressure observed in the dairy industry are leading towards the use of younger females for reproduction purpose, reducing the interval between generations. More...

Assisted reproduction technologies (ART) and high selection pressure observed in the dairy industry are leading towards the use of younger females for reproduction purpose, reducing the interval between generations. This situation might have an impact on embryo quality, which can affect the success rate of the procedures. This study aims to document the effect of donor age on embryo quality, on transcriptomic level, in order to caracterize the effect of using young animals for reproduction purpose. Overall design: 10 young Holstein cows were used 3 times each at different ages for ovarian stimulation protocols and oocyte collections (at 8, 11 and 14 months). These oocytes were then fertilized in vitro with adult bull semen, generating 3 lots of embryos per animal. Semen from the same bull was used for all females, at all times. Each animal was used as its own control for age-effect evaluation. EmbryoGENE plateform allowed whole genome assessment of gene expression patterns at the blastocyst stage. Embryos from animals at 8 vs 14 months and at 11 vs 14 months were used for microarray hybridization. Validation was done performing RT-qPCR tests on 7 candidate genes. Less...