Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer in Sheep and Approaches to Improve Efficiency.

Sheep somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is widely used in both agricultural and biomedical research, especially for generating animal models of human disease. Here, we present the most accessible method of sheep oocyte collection for use in subsequent SCNT, using commercial in vitro maturation and culture media to increase SCNT efficiency. We describe a detailed procedure of sheep SCNT and SCNT animal production, as well as outline two methods to determine embryo quality: in vitro culture until blastocyst formation and blastocyst inner cell mass and trophectoderm cell staining.