Epigenetic reprogramming in mammalian nuclear transfer

Somatic cloning has been succeeded in some species, but the cloning efficiency is very low, which limits the application of the technique in many areas of research and biotechnology. The cloning of mammals by somatic cell nuclear transfer (NT) requires epigenetic reprogramming of the differentiated state of donor cell to a totipotent, embry-onic ground state. Accumulating evidence indicates that in-complete or inappropriate epigenetic reprogramming of do-nor nuclei is likely to be the primary cause of failures in nu-clear transfer. This review summarizes the roles of various epigenetic mechanisms, including DNA methylation, histone acetylation, imprinting, X-chromosome inactivation, te-lomere maintenance and expressions of development-related genes on somatic nuclear transfer.