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Since the development of in vitro embryo production in cattle, different supplements have been added to culture media to support embryo development, with serum being the most popular. However, the addition of serum during embryo culture can induce high birthweights and low viability in calves (Large Offspring Syndrome). Analysis of global gene expression in bovine embryos produced under different conditions can provide valuable information to optimize culture media for in vitro embryo production.

We used RNA sequencing to examine the effect of in vitro embryo production, in either serum-containing or serum-free media, on the global gene expression pattern of individual bovine blastocysts. Compared to in vivo derived embryos, embryos produced in serum-containing medium had five times more differentially expressed …