The production of functional female gametes is essential for the propagation of all vertebrate
species. The growth of oocytes within ovarian follicles and their development to mature eggs …

The epigenetic profile of germ cells, which is defined by modifications of DNA and
chromatin, changes dynamically during their development. Many of the changes are …

Complementary sets of genes are epigenetically silenced in male and female gametes in a
process termed genomic imprinting. The Dnmt3L gene is expressed during gametogenesis …

The H19 gene produces a non‐coding RNA, which is abundantly expressed during
embryonic development and down‐regulated after birth. Although this gene was discovered …

Germ cells may be defined as those cells, all of whose surviving descendants will become
sperm or eggs. In all sexually reproducing animals and plants, these cells play a uniquely …

Maintenance of genomic methylation patterns in mammalian somatic cells depends on DNA
methyltransferase-1 (Dnmt1). Mouse oocytes and preimplantation embryos lack Dnmt1 but …

Cloning of mammals by nuclear transfer (NT) results in gestational or neonatal failure with at
most a few percent of manipulated embryos resulting in live births. Many of those that …

Only mammals have relinquished parthenogenesis, a means of producing descendants
solely from maternal germ cells. Mouse parthenogenetic embryos die by day 10 of …

Genomic imprinting causes genes to be expressed or repressed depending on their
parental origin. The majority of imprinted genes identified to date map in clusters and much …

Most cells contain the same set of genes and yet they are extremely diverse in appearance
and functions. It is the selective expression and repression of genes that determines the …