Cover: The cover image shows representative immunofluorescence images showing global DNA methylation in fertilized (fE) and parthenogenetic preimplantation embryos (pE) by specific labeling with anti-5-MeC (5-methylcytosine) antibody (FITC, green in nuclei). Red, nuclei stained by PI (propidium iodide). At the 2-cell stage, methylation in parthenogenetic embryos slightly increased compared to fertilized embryos. From the 4-cell to blastocyst stage, parthenogenetic embryos showed remarkably higher methylation than did fertilized embryos. Images were taken with the same exposure time and conditions using appropriate filters under a fluorescence microscope (Leica) (200X). See C. Li et al., pp. 2177-2187.
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