Reproduction Abstracts

Introduction: The large, compact oocyte nucleoli, sometimes referred to as nucleolus precursor bodies (NPBs), are essential for embryonic development in mammals. It has been convincingly documented that zygotes inherit the oocyte nucleolar material and form NPBs again in pronuclei. During early embryonic development, the compact zygote NPBs gradually transform into reticulated nucleoli of somatic cells type. Here we show that zygote NPBs are not required for embryonic and full...