Global microRNA Expression Profiling of Buffalo (Bubalus Bubalis) Embryos at Different Developmental Stages Produced by Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer and in Vitro Fertilization Using Rna Sequencing

Despite the success of cloning technology in production of offspring across several species, its application on a wide scale is severely limited by the very low offspring rate obtained with cloned embryos. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) expression profile in cloned embryos throughout the embryonic development are reported to deviate from regular pattern. In present study, aimed at determining the dynamics of global expression of miRNA profile in cloned and IVF pre-implantation embryos at different developmental stages i.e 2-cell, 8-cell and blastocyst using next-generation sequencing. The results of this study suggested that there is a profound difference in the global miRNA profile between cloned and IVF embryos. These differences are manifested throughout the course of embryonic development. The cloned embryos differ from their IVF counterparts in the enriched GO terms of Biological Process, Molecular Function, Cellular Component and Protein Class categories in terms of the targets of differentially expressed miRNAs. The major pathways related to embryonic development such as Wnt signaling pathway, apoptosis signaling pathway, FGF signaling pathway, p53 pathway etc. were found to be affected in cloned relative to IVF embryos.