Generation of maternally semi-cloned mice

Semi-cloning technology has made a series of advances in studying gene function and building disease models. Maternally semi-cloned mice ( MSCM ) have completely identical maternal genome. MSCM are typically produced by injecting sperm into oocytes whose spindles have been replaced by parthenogenetic haploid embryonic stem cells ( PG-haESCs ), resulting in an extremely low birth rate. However, injecting parthenogenetic double haploid ESCs ( PG-DhESCs ) into Prdm14 knockout embryos generates chimeric mice whose germ cells originate from the PG-DhESCs and produce genetically identical oocytes. The offsprings of those chimeric mice, named MSCM, have completely identical maternal genome, mitochondrial genome of the same origin, and an equal proportions of male and female,