Supplementation of vitamin C promotes early germ cell specification from human embryonic stem cells.

ABSTRACT:

Background

As the precursors of sperm and eggs, human primordial germ cells (hPGCs) emerge as early as weeks 2 to 3 of post-implantation development. Recently, robust hPGC induction models have been established in vitro with different protocols, but global 5mC/5hmC epigenetic reprogramming is not initiated in vitro. Previous studies found that vitamin C can enhance Tet (ten-eleven translocation) enzyme expression and improve 5hmC level in cells. But the effect of vitamin C supplementation on hPGC in vitro induction is still unknown.

Methods

We generated a gene-edited human embryonic stem cell (hESC) line carrying a BLIMP1-mkate2 reporter by CRISPR/Cas9 technology and used flow cytometry to optimize the PGC differentiation protocol; meanwhile, the expression of PGC genes (BLI

SUBMITTER: Li Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6858754 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature