Fig. 2

POU5F1-GFP and CDX2-GFP expression during early embryogenesis in vitro. Development of 2PN zygotes in control medium was monitored for morphology and expression up to 96 h. POU5F1-GFP expression at 48 h (a) was used to score embryos on a scale of 0 to 3 for early fluorescence intensity (EFI): low EFI (score 0–1, arrow) or high EFI (score 2–3,*). Three embryos exhibited high EFI of POU5F1-GFP at 48 h (a) and subsequently developed into expanded and hatching blastocysts (b) with expression localized to the ICM (*), compared to one embryo (arrow) with low EFI which failed to develop to the blastocyst stage. Similarly, CDX2-GFP embryos that developed to the expanded/hatching blastocyst stages at 96 h express the normal localization pattern of CDX2 in the TE (c*)