es pattern the E tissues and nourish them while interacting with the uterus, ii) the E tissues contribute to EE elaboration via the differentiation of the epiblast into extra-embryonic endoderm and mesoderm. To evaluate these developmental characteristics following SCNT, SCNT conceptuses were compared to AI and IVP controls. Furthermore, to investigate the impact of reprogramming efficiency, three ear fibroblast donor cell lines with similar levels of blastocyst in vitro production but different calving success rates were selected. Overall, some SCNT conceptuses appeared normal while others showed atypical developmental features accompanied by a high incidence of embryonic/extra-embryonic discordance. Elongation appeared to be secondarily affected as compared to gastrulation and was less associated with reprogramming efficiency at Day 21. The factors that define and restrict this efficiency and their relationship to genomic/ epigenomic features at the somatic, embryonic, and extraembryonic levels should be explored in the future. embryonic and embryonic differentiation were individually analysed and correlated to pregnancy success rates at Day 21 and at term. Extra-Embryonic Differentiation Conceptuses were placed in one of four elongation classes based on their length, width, and overall morphology. At Day 18, bovine conceptuses were expected 
to be 1725 cm long, 12 cm wide at the centre, and showing signs of mesoderm formation at the latter location. If they complied with these criteria, they were classified as ��filamentous”. If they were shorter in length, they were ��early filamentous”. Shorter and thinner conceptuses were ��tubular�� or ��early tubular”. Since the filamentous shape was the most frequent form observed at Day 18, filamentous conceptuses were considered ��normal”. Conversely, the tubular shape indicated a developmental delay, either mild or severe. Severe elongation delays, as for conceptuses shorter than 3 cm, were considered ��abnormal��at Day 18. When the elongation status of controls and SCNTs were compared, none of the conceptuses in the SCNT High, IVP, and AI CX-4945 manufacturer groups PubMed ID:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22189787 displayed abnormal elongation, whereas those belonging to SCNT Med and Low groups did. This could have accounted for the lower implantation rates observed in these latter groups but its impact had to be assessed at the molecular level. Consequently, the molecular profile of each Day 18 conceptus was characterized while restricting the high throughput analysis to the extra-embryonic tissues. As each study group was represented by 710 elongated conceptuses, sampling was homogeneous enough to proceed to paired comparisons using the array data set. While the control groups were similar, the SCNT groups differed from each other, with the greatest number of gene expression differences occurring between the High and Low groups. AIs, IVPs, and SCNTs had similar numbers of DEGs, with the exception of SCNT Low. However, AI, IVP, and SCNT Low did not display higher intra-variability than SCNT Med or High. As for individual genes, some were found to be pair-specific whereas others were shared by several pairs. Nonetheless, all genes appeared to be connected through in silico networks and pathways, suggesting Day 18 SCNT-related alterations were the product of the same differentiation processes having been affected in different ways. Instead of focusing on a single gene network, we chose 4 networks and selected 14 genes based on their rank and their implication in: i