However, quantification of mRNA levels of SEPS1 in different Se-supplemented groups after influenza vaccine indicated a dose-specific response in SEPS1 expression after vaccination. This potentially important finding should be investigated further, especially in relation to the potential role of SEPS1 in the immune response. Somatic cell nuclear transfer, which involves the transfer of an adult or fetal cell into an enucleated oocyte, utilises the cytoplasmic factors already present within the oocyte to reprogramme the somatic cell. Following incubation of the somatic cell in the recipient oocyte and subsequent activation, the resultant embryos can be cultured to the blastocyst stage, the final stage of preimplantation development. At this stage, cells can be isolated from the inner cell mass and cultured in vitro as potential ��personalised�� embryonic stem cells. The expanding colonies of pluripotent ESCs then have the potential to develop into any cell type of the body. Such approaches have led to the generation of LEE011 1211441-98-3 murine models of haematopoiesis, regenerative strategies for Parkinson9s disease and non-human primate ESC lines. The use of SCNT to generate human ESC lines modelling disease is, however, restricted by ethical considerations and access to human oocytes for research purposes. Consequently, animal oocytes have been proposed as the most suitable alternative to host human somatic nuclei, i.e. interspecies/admixed SCNT. Indeed, studies using iSCNT have reported development to the blastocyst stage following the transfer of human, sheep, porcine and monkey nuclei into bovine oocytes and macaque nuclei into rabbit oocytes. There is also a single report of the generation of several human ESC lines following the transfer of human nuclei into rabbit oocytes. However, a number of reports have highlighted, amongst other factors, the failure of many iSCNT embryos to initiate and progress further than embryonic genome activation most likely through unsuccessful reprogramming and initiation of embryonic transcription. In the vast majority of cases, SCNT also results in the mixing of chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA from different sources. MtDNA is located within the inner membrane of the mitochondrion and is present in nearly all eukaryotic cells. It encodes 13 of the 90+subunits of the electron transfer chain, which is the cell��s major generator of ATP through oxidative phosphorylation. In order to ensure that mature tissues and cells produce ATP at maximum efficiency, the Doxorubicin distributor mammalian embryo strictly regulates the transmission of mtDNA from the population present in the oocyte just prior to fertilisation, as is the case for those offspring generated from oocytes fertilised with sperm from the same breed or strain.