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Submitted to: International Symposium on Porcine Reproduction on Artificial Insemination
Publication Type: Review Article Publication Acceptance Date: 4/15/1999 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Preselection of sex of progeny in livestock has been validated on the basis of live births, reanalysis of sorted sperm for DNA content and of determining the sex of the resulting embryos. Utilization of the Beltsville Sperm Sexing Technology incorporating flow cytometric sorting instrumentation to separate X and Y bearing sperm can be used in conjunction with IVF in swine and in cattle for the production of sexed embryos to be transferred to eligible recipients for the duration of gestation. It can also be used for intratubal insemination. The method is also usable for deep uterine insemination in cattle. The pig continues to provide a greater challenge because of the necessity to inseminate large numbers of sperm for optimum fertilization, which cannot be produced efficiently with current sexing protocols. This semi-practical sexing method, though impractical for some production systems could be used to provide a more flexible progeny producing option in many livestock operations. Flow cytometric sorting of sperm for reproductive purposes requires significant commitment in order to apply the systems commercially or in research situations. Research continues to improve the efficiency of sorting more sperm/hour. High speed sorting as is now being used in our lab, promises to increase the throughput of sorted sperm per unit time. Improvements in the technology will lead to much greater usage of sexed sperm, depending on the species involved. Solving the problems associated with inseminating low sperm numbers in the pig would be advantageous to the utilization of sexed sperm for some type of artificial insemination. Such a development would also enhance the economy of using lower sperm numbers with conventional AI and aid the swine industry worldwide. |
