Animal Reproductive Biology Group

Randall Prather

Professor
Animal Science

Phone: 573-882-7446
Fax: 573-882-6827
E-mail: PratherR@missouri.edu
Address: 162 Animal Science Research Center

Education

B.S., Kansas State University
M.S., Kansas State University
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin
Postdoc, University of Wisconsin

Research Focus

Developmental biology
Transgenesis
Embryo culture

Research Description

Prather's major research focus is to improve reproductive efficiency in domestic animals by performing directed research in developmental biology and reproductive physiology.

Specifically, Prather is investigating mechanisms of oocyte activation, transcriptional regulation of differentiation, in vitro production of embryos, nuclear reprogramming after nuclear transfer, transgenic animal production via nuclear transfer, and genomic studies of reproduction.

The long-term goals of the oocyte activation studies are to characterize the mechanisms that sperm use to activate an unfertilized oocyte and to apply this knowledge to increase the percentage of eggs that are activated and subsequently develop to the blastocyst stage.

The transcriptional regulation of differentiation research goals are to describe the changes that occur in the pattern of histone acetylation, pattern of expression of mRNA that codes for proteins involved in glucose metabolism, and determining the presence and function of nuclear importers and nuclear exporters during preimplantation development.

The goal of the nuclear reprogramming research has been to describe the changes that occur to a nucleus when it is transferred into the cytoplasm of an unfertilized egg.

In addition, two genomic projects are underway; these projects will produce genetic information from cDNA libraries from female reproductive tissues and embryos.

Recent Publications

Carroll JA, Carter DB, Korte SW, Prather RS.
Evaluation of the acute phase response in cloned pigs following a lipopolysaccharide challenge. Domest Anim Endocrinol. 2005 Oct;29(3):564-72. Epub 2005 Apr 19. PMID: 16153505
Schatten H, Prather RS, Sun QY.
The significance of mitochondria for embryo development in cloned farm animals. Mitochondrion. 2005 Oct;5(5):303-21. PMID: 16150655
Mao J, Wu GM, Prather RS, Smith MF, Cantley T, Rieke A, Didion BA, Day BN.
Effect of methyl-beta-cyclodextrin treatment of pig spermatozoa on in vitro fertilization and embryo development in the absence or presence of caffeine. Theriogenology. 2005 May 23; [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 15919108
Im GS, Yang BS, Lai L, Liu Z, Hao Y, Prather RS.
Fragmentation and development of preimplantation porcine embryos derived by parthenogenetic activation and nuclear transfer. Mol Reprod Dev. 2005 Jun;71(2):159-65. PMID: 15791600
Sutovsky P, Manandhar G, Laurincik J, Letko J, Caamano JN, Day BN, Lai L, Prather RS, Sharpe-Timms KL, Zimmer R, Sutovsky M.
Expression and proteasomal degradation of the major vault protein (MVP) in mammalian oocytes and zygotes. Reproduction. 2005 Mar;129(3):269-82. PMID: 15749954
Whitworth KM, Agca C, Kim JG, Patel RV, Springer GK, Bivens NJ, Forrester LJ, Mathialagan N, Green JA, Prather RS.
Transcriptional profiling of pig embryogenesis by using a 15-K member unigene set specific for pig reproductive tissues and embryos. Biol Reprod. 2005 Jun;72(6):1437-51. Epub 2005 Feb 9. PMID: 15703372
Prather RS, Sutovsky P, Green JA.
Nuclear remodeling and reprogramming in transgenic pig production. Exp Biol Med (Maywood). 2004 Dec;229(11):1120-6. Review. PMID: 15564438
Wu GM, Lai L, Mao J, McCauley TC, Caamano JN, Cantley T, Rieke A, Murphy CN, Prather RS, Didion BA, Day BN.
Birth of piglets by in vitro fertilization of zona-free porcine oocytes. Theriogenology. 2004 Nov;62(8):1544-56. PMID: 15451262
Mao J, Smith MF, Rucker EB, Wu GM, McCauley TC, Cantley TC, Prather RS, Didion BA, Day BN.
Effect of epidermal growth factor and insulin-like growth factor I on porcine preantral follicular growth, antrum formation, and stimulation of granulosal cell proliferation and suppression of apoptosis in vitro. J Anim Sci. 2004 Jul;82(7):1967-75. PMID: 15309943
Jiang H, Whitworth KM, Bivens NJ, Ries JE, Woods RJ, Forrester LJ, Springer GK, Mathialagan N, Agca C, Prather RS, Lucy MC.
Large-scale generation and analysis of expressed sequence tags from porcine ovary. Biol Reprod. 2004 Dec;71(6):1991-2002. Epub 2004 Aug 11. PMID: 15306552
A complete list of publications for RS Prather in PubMed