A thymine-cytosine substitution was identified in exon 3 (codon 76, TAT to TAC) of the human follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) β-subunit gene. The nucleotide change led to creation of an AccI digestion site. The frequencies of the A allele (with AccI site) in Chinese (n = 201), Malays (n = 168) and Indians (n = 132) were 0.358, 0.333 and 0.402, respectively. The new FSH β-subunit marker may be useful in gene tracking and association studies.

Advanced molecular and cellular technologies provide promising tools for wildlife and biodiversity conservation. Induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology offers an easily accessible and infinite source of pluripotent stem cells, and have been derived from many threatened wildlife species. This paper describes the first successful integration-free reprogramming of adult somatic cells to iPSCs, and their differentiation, from three endangered Southeast Asian primates: the Celebes Crested Macaque (Macaca nigra), the Lar Gibbon (Hylobates lar), and the Siamang (Symphalangus syndactylus). iPSCs were also generated from the Proboscis Monkey (Nasalis larvatus). Differences in mechanisms could elicit new discoveries regarding primate evolution and development. iPSCs from endangered species provides a safety net in conservation efforts and allows for sustainable sampling for research and conservation, all while providing a platform for the development of further in vitro models of disease.

A time-lapse live embryo monitoring system provides a powerful approach to recording dynamic developmental events of cultured embryos in detail. By obtaining continuous short-interval images, blastocyst formation can be predicted and embryos can be selected. The objective of this study was to investigate the morphokinetic parameters of fishing cat–domestic cat interspecies somatic cell nuclear transfer (iSCNT) embryos from one-cell to blastocyst stages, and in particular, the cleavage patterns of the first division in iSCNT and IVF embryos, as these play a central role in euploidy. Domestic cat in vitro fertilization (IVF) embryos were set up as controls. The results show that morula and blastocyst development rates were significantly lower in the iSCNT embryos compared to their IVF counterparts. All earlier time points of embryonic development before the onset of blastulation in the iSCNT embryos were significantly delayed when compared with their IVF counterparts. In iSCNT, normal embryos (defined as those that developed to the blastocyst stage) took a longer time to reach the morula stage, and these morulas were more likely to undergo compaction, compared to their arrested embryo counterparts. Direct cleavage in the first division is a morphological aberration, and was seen with greater prevalence in iSCNT embryos than control IVF embryos; these aberrant embryos displayed a significantly lower blastocyst development rate than embryos that had undergone normal cleavage. In conclusion, the morphokinetic parameters of fishing cat–domestic cat iSCNT embryos at early stages could be used to predict their potential for development to the blastocyst stage. A time-lapse imaging system is potentially a powerful tool for selecting early embryos with developmental potential for transfer, and hence, for improving feline iSCNT efficiency.

Introduction: Does euploidy of trophectoderm (TE) biopsies correlate with conventional blastocyst morphological, maternal age and implantation potential? Methods: This is a one-centre, retrospective, observational study. Results: Eight hundred and ninety-three blastocysts were biopsied; 57.73% were euploid. The euploidy rate was found to be significantly higher for the embryos with good morphology of inner cell mass (ICM) and TE. Between ICM and TE morphology variables, TE was more predictive of the euploidy rate. When broken down into different age groups, the percentage of good morphology embryos remained similar across all age groups, while the percentage of euploid embryos dropped with increasing age. These results suggest that the correlation between blastocyst morphology and ploidy status was present but poor. Faster growing day 5 blastocysts showed a significantly higher euploidy rate than slower growing day 6 or 7 blastocysts. The number of good-quality blastocysts per cycle, euploid blastocysts per cycle and the euploidy rate were strongly associated with maternal age. A trend towards an increased implantation rate was found with euploid embryo transfers compared to the control group without preimplantation genetic test for aneuploidies (PGT-A). Conclusions: Blastocyst morphology, rate of development and maternal age were found to be significantly associated with euploidy rate. There is a trend that suggests PGT-A may help to improve the pregnancy rate, but it is not statistically different, and therefore, PGT-A remains an unproven hypothesis. Due to the limitation of a small size of the control group, further studies with more data are needed.

Very low efficiency limits the application of interspecies somatic cell nuclear transfer (iSCNT) on preserving endangered species. Our study demonstrated when taxonomical distance increased from intra-species to inter-species to inter-subfamily, the blastocyst rates decreased gradually (27.8% to 12.4% to 0). Scriptaid treatment significantly improved blastocyst rate of Bearded pig iSCNT embryos, accelerated the division timing and enhanced the level of H3K9ac at earlier stages. Transcriptome analysis revealed that half of the comparison groups based on taxonomical relations or Scriptaid treatment, displayed high proportion of enriched GO terms related to mitochondrion structure and/or function. Inter-subfamily or inter-species comparison groups reflected in downregulated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) or upregulated DEGs, contrarily. Accordingly, all these comparison groups displayed KEGG pathway enrichment to oxidative phosphorylation under their top pathways. The key genes related to the GO terms were identified for taxonomical relations or Scriptaid treatment, which are mainly from the NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase (NDUF) or ND gene family, separately. These findings suggest that taxonomical distance or Scriptaid treatment is closely associated with development fate of iSCNT embryos in Suidae through regulating the expression of mitochondrion-related genes. Our distinct contribution is identifying specific dysregulation in the NDUF (nuclear-encoded) and ND (mitochondrially encoded) gene families as a potential molecular basis for the "taxonomic wall," specifically showing how Scriptaid partially rescues this uncoupling.

Induced pluripotent stem cells have revolutionized biomedical research—yet the vast majority of life on Earth remains beyond their reach. Non-model species lack the annotated genomes, validated reagents, and species-specific culture infrastructure that make iPSC technology routine in humans and mice, and this infrastructure deficit, compounded by genuine biological differences in pluripotency network architecture across taxa, is what has kept the field narrow. The deep conservation of the core pluripotency network across vertebrates suggests that reprogramming may, in principle, be achievable across a far broader range of species than currently demonstrated—though the extent to which this holds across more divergent taxa remains to be established. This review consolidates current progress and future potential of iPSC technology across five domains: technical reprogramming challenges and advances; conservation applications including genetic rescue, in vitro gametogenesis, and de-extinction; medical applications within a one medicine framework; agricultural applications spanning disease resistance, climate resilience, and cultured meat; and species-specific iPSC-derived systems in ecotoxicology. Throughout, we distinguish what has been demonstrated from what remains aspirational and identify the priorities that will determine whether the iPSC revolution can be extended—rigorously and at scale—beyond model organism research.