Novel method for the nuclear transfer of adult somatic cells in medaka fish (Oryzias latipes): use of diploidized eggs as recipients.

Until recently, the nuclear transfer of adult somatic cell nuclei in fish has been unsuccessful. This is primarily because of chromosomal aberrations in nuclear transplants, which are thought to arise due to asynchrony between the cell cycles of the recipient egg and donor nucleus. We recently succeeded in circumventing this difficulty by using a new nuclear transfer method in medaka fish (Oryzias latipes). Instead of enucleated eggs, the method uses non-enucleated and diploidized eggs, obtained by retention of the second polar body release, as recipients in the nuclear transfer of primary culture cells from the caudal fin of an adult green fluorescent protein gene (GFP)-transgenic strain. We found that 2.7% of the reconstructed embryos grew into diploid and fertile adults exhibiting donor expression characteristics and transmission of the GFP marker gene to progeny. The mechanism underlying the generation of nuclear transplants using this method is unknown at present; however, analyses of donor and recipient nuclei behavior and the cytoskeletal mechanisms involved in the early developmental stages, as well as the special ability of diploidized eggs to facilitate reprogramming of the donor nuclei will result in elucidation of the mechanism.