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Parthenogenesis—A Potential Tool to Reproductive Biotechnology

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Advances in Animal Biotechnology

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Abstract

Parthenogenesis is a form of asexual reproduction in some organisms in which oocyte develops into an embryo without fertilization by sperm. Parthenogenesis is a natural process of reproduction in a few lower invertebrates while higher vertebrates such as humans, mice, and farm animal species have relinquished reproduction by parthenogenesis. However, oocytes can be activated or induced to develop into blastocysts by means of parthenogenetic activation albeit with remarkably low success rates. Parthenogenetic embryos serve as sources of haploid embryonic stem cells may occasionally produce live offspring.

Highlights

  • Parthenogenesis is an asexual mode of reproduction in some lower animals

  • Parthenogenetic embryos have applications in stem cell biology, animal biotechnology, and biomedical sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Regional Station, Palampur, India

    Birbal Singh & Gorakh Mal

  2. Department of Biotechnology, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana, India

    Sanjeev K. Gautam

  3. Department of Animal Biotechnology, ICAR-National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources, Karnal, Haryana, India

    Manishi Mukesh

Authors
  1. Birbal Singh
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  2. Gorakh Mal
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  3. Sanjeev K. Gautam
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  4. Manishi Mukesh
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Correspondence to Birbal Singh .

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Singh, B., Mal, G., Gautam, S.K., Mukesh, M. (2019). Parthenogenesis—A Potential Tool to Reproductive Biotechnology. In: Advances in Animal Biotechnology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21309-1_22

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