Defining Cell Fate And Embryonic Genome Activation By Global Single-Cell cDNA Analysis of Blastomeres From 5-to 8-Cell Human Embryos.

To determine blastomere fate and embryonic genome activation (EGA) at 5- to 8-cell stage human embryos by global gene expression profile of amplified cDNA from blastomeres at the single cell level Forty-nine blastomeres from 5-, 6- and 8-cell human embryos were analyzed through whole genome wide analysis following an efficient cDNA amplification protocol (Kurimoto et al., 2007) with slight modifications. Single biopsied blastomeres were also compared with two amplified inner cell masses and two trophectoderms from blastocysts.