Abstract: In order to investigate the mRNA expression of compact-related genes in buffalo in vitro matured and fertilized embryos, the Taqman probe and SYBR-Green Ⅰ quantitative real-time PCR(Q-PCR) method was used to analyze mRNA expression of Cx43, Cx31 and E-cad genes in pooled baffalo in vitro cultured embryos. Cx43 gene showed significantly higher expression in matured oocytes than in other stage embryos（P＜0.05）, reverse to Cx43 gene, Cx31 gene had the lowest expression in matured oocytes compared with other three stages, and gradually increased its expression along with the development of embryos.The level of E-cad mRNA expression did not vary among the tested embryos（P＞0.05）. The present study demonstrated that the three compact-related genes had expression in all stages of baffalo IVF embryos, but showed definitely different mRNA expression style.

Key words: embryo compaction; real-time PCR; gene expression; baffalo