©FUNPEC-RP www.funpecrp.com.br Genetics and Molecular Research 14 (4): 14093-14104 (2015) Mitochondrial DNA dynamics during in vitro culture and pluripotency induction of a bovine Rho0 cell line L.V.F. Pessôa 1 , F.F. Bressan 1,2 , M.R. Chiaratti 1,3 , P.R.L. Pires 1 , F. Perecin 1,2 , L.C. Smith 1,4 and F.V. Meirelles 1,2 1 Departamento de Cirurgia, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil 2 Departamento de Medicina Veterinária, Faculdade de Zootecnia e Engenharia de Alimentos, Universidade de São Paulo, Pirassununga, SP, Brasil 3 Departamento de Genética e Evolução, Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, São Carlos, SP, Brasil 4 Animal and Reproduction Research Center, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada Corresponding author: L.V.F. Pessôa E-mail: laisvpessoa@usp.br Genet. Mol. Res. 14 (4): 14093-14104 (2015) Received May 18, 2015 Accepted October 14, 2015 Published October 29, 2015 DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.4238/2015.October.29.29 ABSTRACT. Large number of cellular changes and diseases are related to mutations in the mitochondrial DNA copy number. Cell culture in the presence of ethidium bromide is a known way of depleting mitochondrial DNA and is a useful model for studying such conditions. Interestingly, the morphology of these depleted cells resembles that of pluripotent cells, as they present larger and fragmented mitochondria with poorly developed cristae. Herein, we aimed to study the mechanisms responsible for the control of mitochondrial DNA replication during mitochondrial DNA depletion mediated by ethidium bromide and during the in vitro induction of cellular pluripotency with exogenous transcription factor expression in a bovine model. This article reports the generation of a bovine Rho0 mesenchymal cell line and describes the analysis of mitochondrial DNA