Epigenetic Features of Animal Biotechnologies

Abstract

Epigenetic mechanisms play a crucial role in many biological processes, such as regulation of gene expression especially after fertilization and during early embryonic development. Indeed, the parental genomes that carry special epigenetic signatures, undergo important chromatin remodelling through epigenetic modifications during the first embryonic cleavages, some of which are crucial for the production of healthy embryos. It is therefore very important for breeders and embryologists to understand how parentally inherited genomes may be epigenetically altered by animal biotechnologies as it could affect embryo quality and further development. This chapter introduces some of the basic epigenetic parameters underpinning early embryonic development and how they could be affected during the processes of embryo in vitro production, somatic cell nuclear transfer or stem cells derivation.