Gene editing and multi-omics approaches to study early embryogenesis in cattle

Advancements in multi-omics profiling and targeted molecular functional tools have led to significant progress in our understanding of early embryonic development in mammals. This is very relevant in the beef and dairy industries for exploring the etiology of early embryo loss. This review highlights how state-of-the-art single-cell and integrative low input omics technologies, including single-cell RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, metabolomics, and proteomics, have revealed complex developmental dynamics during the first week of bovine embryogenesis. This review also provides a concurrent overview of the application of functional tools, including CRISPR/Cas9, RNA editing, base editing, and Trim-Away, in the analysis of critical genes/proteins during the various stages of early embryo development in cattle. The integration of high-dimensional molecular profiling with targeted manipulations enables researchers to analyze key developmental events with unparalleled resolution. It is evident that these approaches provide a more comprehensive mechanistic depiction of early embryogenesis, thereby informing translational efforts in improving bovine fertility.