Pluripotent Core in Bovine Embryos: A Review

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The fusion between sperm and oocyte results in a zygote, which is a single totipotent cell with the ability to develop into a functional organism. Totipotent cells can give rise to different specialized cell types of all lineages. Understanding the interactions between cell signaling pathways, which drive the early embryo to maintain pluripotency, is essential to establishing the optimal embryonic or stem cell culture conditions for biotechnological applications in cattle. Thus, this review summarizes the core of pluripotency genes, strategies for controlling pluripotency, and the potential applications of pluripotency in in vitro production of cattle embryos. ABSTRACT: Early development in mammals is characterized by the ability of each cell to produce a complete organism plus the extraembryonic, or placental, cells, defined as pluripotency. During subsequent development, pluripotency is lost, and cells begin to differentiate to a particular cell fate. This review summarizes the current knowledge of pluripotency features of bovine embryos cultured in vitro, focusing on the core of pluripotency genes (OCT4, NANOG, SOX2, and CDX2), and main chemical strategies for controlling pluripotent networks during early development. Finally, we discuss the applicability of manipulating pluripotency during the morula to blastocyst transition in cattle species.