{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,18]],"date-time":"2026-09-18T21:06:05Z","timestamp":1789765565609,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"Oxford University Press (OUP)","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,26]],"date-time":"2026-08-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787702400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/pages\/standard-publication-reuse-rights"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Key R&D Program","award":["2021YFD1200303"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2021YFD1200303"]}]},{"name":"Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region key R&D","award":["2024BBF01005"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024BBF01005"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004480","name":"Shanxi Province Natural Science Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2024ZY-JCYJ-02\u201319"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024ZY-JCYJ-02\u201319"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004480","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Key R&D Program of Shaanxi Province","award":["2024NC2-GJHX-13"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024NC2-GJHX-13"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,3]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>In brief<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Zygotic genome activation failure contributes to the low developmental efficiency of porcine somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryos. We show that \u03b1-ketoglutarate improves transcriptional activation, epigenetic remodeling, and embryo development in SCNT embryos, supporting its potential use for improving nuclear reprogramming efficiency.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Abstract: Incomplete zygotic genome activation (ZGA) is a major barrier limiting the developmental competence of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryos in pigs. \u03b1-Ketoglutarate (\u03b1-KG), a key metabolic intermediate and cofactor for \u03b1-KG-dependent dioxygenases, has been implicated in epigenetic remodeling during early embryogenesis. In this study, we investigated whether \u03b1-KG supplementation could improve developmental potential and ZGA-associated events in porcine SCNT embryos. Treatment with \u03b1-KG improved cleavage progression, increased blastocyst formation rates, increased total blastocyst cell number and inner cell mass cell number, and reduced apoptosis and DNA damage. In addition, \u03b1-KG improved microtubule organization and actin distribution during early cleavage stages, contributing to more coordinated cell division. Mechanistically, \u03b1-KG increased global 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) levels and elevated the abundance of activating histone marks, including H3K4me3 and H3K27ac. Expression of several ZGA-associated genes, including DUXA, ZSCAN4, EIF1A, and KLF17, was significantly increased following \u03b1-KG supplementation, accompanied by enhanced nascent RNA synthesis. Notably, inhibition of TET enzymes with Bobcat339 attenuated the effects of \u03b1-KG on 5hmC accumulation, transcriptional activity, and embryo development. Collectively, these findings indicate that \u03b1-KG improves developmental competence and is associated with enhanced epigenetic remodeling in porcine SCNT embryos, at least in part through TET-associated pathways, providing a potential strategy for improving nuclear reprogramming efficiency in animal cloning.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1093\/reprod\/xaag103","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T11:34:37Z","timestamp":1787657677000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["\u03b1-Ketoglutarate enhances epigenetic remodeling and developmental competence in porcine SCNT embryos"],"prefix":"10.1093","volume":"172","author":[{"given":"Baobao","family":"Zhao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University , Yangling, Shaanxi,","place":["China"]},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Northwest A&F University , Yangling, Shaanxi,","place":["PR China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jieyu","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University , Yangling, Shaanxi,","place":["China"]},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Northwest A&F University , Yangling, Shaanxi,","place":["PR China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zihan","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University , Yangling, Shaanxi,","place":["China"]},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Northwest A&F University , Yangling, Shaanxi,","place":["PR China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaoli","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University , Yangling, Shaanxi,","place":["China"]},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Northwest A&F University , Yangling, Shaanxi,","place":["PR China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shiqing","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University , Yangling, Shaanxi,","place":["China"]},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Northwest A&F University , Yangling, Shaanxi,","place":["PR China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhenzhen","family":"Yin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University , Yangling, Shaanxi,","place":["China"]},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Northwest A&F University , Yangling, Shaanxi,","place":["PR China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yang","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University , Yangling, Shaanxi,","place":["China"]},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Northwest A&F University , Yangling, Shaanxi,","place":["PR China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Meiyun","family":"Lv","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University , Yangling, Shaanxi,","place":["China"]},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Northwest A&F University , Yangling, Shaanxi,","place":["PR China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jinwang","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University , Yangling, Shaanxi,","place":["China"]},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Northwest A&F University , Yangling, Shaanxi,","place":["PR China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-2875-7677","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Heqiang","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University , Yangling, Shaanxi,","place":["China"]},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Northwest A&F University , Yangling, Shaanxi,","place":["PR China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Suzhu","family":"Qing","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University , Yangling, Shaanxi,","place":["China"]},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural 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