Mechanism for the acquisition of totipotency by Yamanaka factors

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The expression of the transcripts of Yamanaka factors was examined by RT-PCR, which revealed that all of the factors were detected in the preimplantation embryos. Since the expression levels of Oct3/4 and c-Myc seemed to be high, I focused on these genes in the further experiments. Immunocytochemistry revealed that the nuclear localization of both of OCT3/4 and c-MYC proteins increased after fertilization. When full-grown oocytes were microinjected with Oct3/4 siRNA and then subjected to in vitro fertilization, the fertilized oocytes did not cleave to the 2-cell stage. In these oocytes, the expressions of the genes which are usually expressed after fertilization were reduced.