Oocyte development before and during folliculogenesis / Melissa Pepling -- The in vitro culture of ovarian follicles: a brief history and current considerations / Bahar Uslu and Joshua Johnson -- Regulation of oocyte meiotic resumption by somatic cells / Masayuki Shimada -- Oocyte-secreted factors in domestic animals / Jeremy G. Thompson, David G. Mottershead, and Robert B. Gilchrist -- MicroRNAs in oocyte physiology and development / Dawit Tesfaye, Md M. Hossain, and Karl Schellander -- Bovine oocyte gene expression: identification of functional regulators of early embryogenesis / Swamy K. Tripurani, Jianbo Yao, and George W. Smith -- Epigenetic modifications during mammalian oocyte growth and meiotic progression / Claudia Baumann, Maria M. Viveiros, and Rabindranath De La Fuente -- Oocyte calcium homeostasis / Zoltan Machaty -- Oocyte metabolism and its relationship to developmental competence / Rebecca L. Krisher and Jason R. Herrick -- Screening for oocyte competence / Marc-André Sirad and Mourad Assidi -- In vitro maturation environment affects developmental outcome / Pat Longergan.