Long-Term Effects Following Fresh/Vitrified Embryo Transfer Are Transmitted by Paternal Germline in a Large Size Rabbit Cohort

摘要

Assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) involve an extraordinary change in the natural developmental trajectory of the mammalian embryo, incurring potential long-term and inheritable effects in the resulting offspring. The results of this study demonstrate, for the first time, that ex vivo embryo manipulations during fresh and vitrified embryo transfer are associated with paternally inherited bodyweight variation, but seemed not transmissible via the female germline. This asymmetry in the transmission of acquired features following ARTs suggests that embryo paternal and maternal genomes differ in their degree of susceptibility to the lasting effects of ARTs. This study would provide a novel view of developmental plasticity in the early mammalian embryo.