Dam hormonal profiles and pluripotent genes expression in parthenogenetic embryos developed from two varieties of turkey

Turkey hens show spontaneous parthenogenesis, which depends upon the genetic and environmental factors. Previous studies reveal that Black variety (wild type) had higher incidence of parthenogenetic development than Beltsville Small White turkey (BSW). In the present study dam hormonal pattern and expression of pluripotent genes in 24 and 48 hrs old parthenogenetic embryos were studied and compared with the normal hens or fertilized embryos. Embryonic tissues were subjected to total RNA extraction (TRIZOL) and first str and cDNA synthesis (Revert AidTM). Following semiquantitative PCR amplification and gel electrophoressis, expression ratio of target gene to housekeeping gene (28s) was calculated. BSW hens laying parthenogenetic eggs had significantly higher progesterone level than that of Black variety hens, but did not differ from that of normal females laying fertile eggs. However, the testosterone level was significantly higher in BSW and Black variety hens compared to normal turkey females. Expressions of Pou-V, Nanog and Gata-4 gene in 24 hr old embryos were similar in black parthenogentic and normal fertilized eggs, whereas, expression of Sox2 gene was higher in black parthenogenetic eggs. At 48 hours of incubation expression of Pou-V, Gata-4 and Sox-3 gene was significantly lower in the parthenogenetically developed embryos (black or BSW) than those from fertile eggs. It is concluded that high dam testosterone level and higher expression of Sox-2 or Gata-4 gene could be the indicator for parthenogenetic development in turkey eggs.