In vitro expansion of mouse primordial germ cell‐like cells recapitulates an epigenetic blank slate [ChIP-Seq]
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ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE87645 | GEO | 2017/05/30
SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA345474
REPOSITORIES: GEO
Similar Datasets
Project description:The expansion of primordial germ cells (PGCs), the precursors for the oocytes and spermatozoa, is a key challenge in reproductive biology/medicine. Using a chemical screening exploiting PGC‐like cells (PGCLCs) induced from mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs), we here identify key signaling pathways critical for PGCLC proliferation. We show that the combinatorial application of Forskolin and Rolipram, which stimulate cAMP signaling via different mechanisms, expands PGCLCs up to ~50‐fold in culture. The expanded PGCLCs maintain robust capacity for spermatogenesis, rescuing the fertility of infertile mice. Strikingly, during expansion, PGCLCs comprehensively erase their DNA methylome, including parental imprints, in a manner that precisely recapitulates genome‐wide DNA demethylation in gonadal germ cells, while essentially maintaining their identity as sexually uncommitted PGCs, apparently through appropriate histone modifications. By establishing a paradigm for PGCLC expansion, our system reconstitutes the epigenetic “blank slate” of the germ line, an immediate precursory state for sexually dimorphic differentiation.
2017-05-30 | GSE87644 | GEO
Project description:The DND microRNA-mediated repression inhibitor 1 (DND1) is a conserved RNA binding protein (RBP) and plays an important role in survival and maintenance of primordial germ cells (PGCs) and the development of the male germline in zebrafish and mice. It was shown to be expressed in human pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), PGCs, and spermatogonia, but little is known about its specific role in pluripotency and human germline development. Here we use CRISPR/Cas mediated knockout and PGC-like cell (PGCLC) differentiation in human iPSCs to analyse if DND1 (1) plays a role in maintaining pluripotency and (2) in specification of PGCLCs. We generated several clonal lines with biallelic loss of function mutations and analysed their potential to differentiate towards PGCLCs and their gene expression on RNA and protein level via bulk RNA sequencing and mass spectrometry. The generated knockout iPSCs showed no differences in pluripotency gene expression, proliferation nor trilineage differentiation potential, but yielded reduced numbers o PGCLCs compared to their parental iPSCs. RNAseq analysis in PGCLCs showed significantly reduced expression of genes associated with cellular developmental processes and cell differentiation in knockout cells, including known markers for PGCs (NANOS3, SOX17, PRDM1, EPCAM) and naïve pluripotency (TFCP2L, DNMT3L).
2021-12-10 | PXD023802 | Pride
Project description:Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are the founding population of the germ cell lineage that undergo a multistep process to generate spermatozoa or oocytes. Establishing an appropriate culture system for PGCs is a key challenge in reproductive biology. By a chemical screening using mouse PGC-like cells (mPGCLCs), which were induced from mouse embryonic stem cells, we reported previously that forskolin and rolipram synergistically enhanced the proliferation/survival of mPGCLCs with an average expansion rate of ∼20-fold. In the present study, we evaluated other chemicals or cytokines to see whether they would improve the current mPGCLC culture system. Among the chemicals and cytokines examined, in the presence of forskolin and rolipram, cyclosporin A (CsA) and fibroblast growth factors (FGFs: FGF2 and FGF10) effectively enhanced the expansion of mPGCLCs in vitro (∼50-fold on average). During the expansion by CsA or FGFs, mPGCLCs comprehensively erased their DNA methylation to acquire a profile equivalent to that of gonadal germ cells in vivo, while maintaining their highly motile phenotype as well as their transcriptional properties as sexually uncommitted PGCs. Importantly, these mPGCLCs robustly contributed to spermatogenesis and produced fertile offspring. Furthermore, mouse PGCs (mPGCs) cultured with CsA ex vivo showed transcriptomes and DNA methylomes similar to those of cultured mPGCLCs. The improved culture system for mPGCLCs/mPGCs would be instructive for addressing key questions in PGC biology, including the mechanisms for germ cell migration, epigenetic reprogramming, and sex determination of the germline.
2021-02-16 | GSE151444 | GEO
Project description:Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are the founding population of the germ cell lineage that undergo a multistep process to generate spermatozoa or oocytes. Establishing an appropriate culture system for PGCs is a key challenge in reproductive biology. By a chemical screening using mouse PGC-like cells (mPGCLCs), which were induced from mouse embryonic stem cells, we reported previously that forskolin and rolipram synergistically enhanced the proliferation/survival of mPGCLCs with an average expansion rate of ∼20-fold. In the present study, we evaluated other chemicals or cytokines to see whether they would improve the current mPGCLC culture system. Among the chemicals and cytokines examined, in the presence of forskolin and rolipram, cyclosporin A (CsA) and fibroblast growth factors (FGFs: FGF2 and FGF10) effectively enhanced the expansion of mPGCLCs in vitro (∼50-fold on average). During the expansion by CsA or FGFs, mPGCLCs comprehensively erased their DNA methylation to acquire a profile equivalent to that of gonadal germ cells in vivo, while maintaining their highly motile phenotype as well as their transcriptional properties as sexually uncommitted PGCs. Importantly, these mPGCLCs robustly contributed to spermatogenesis and produced fertile offspring. Furthermore, mouse PGCs (mPGCs) cultured with CsA ex vivo showed transcriptomes and DNA methylomes similar to those of cultured mPGCLCs. The improved culture system for mPGCLCs/mPGCs would be instructive for addressing key questions in PGC biology, including the mechanisms for germ cell migration, epigenetic reprogramming, and sex determination of the germline.
2021-02-16 | GSE151445 | GEO
Project description:The generation of properly functioning gametes in vitro, a key goal in developmental/reproductive biology, requires multi-step reconstitutions of complex germ cell development. Based on the logic of primordial germ cell (PGC)-specification, we demonstrate here the generation of PGC-like cells (PGCLCs) in mice with robust capacity for spermatogenesis from embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) through epiblast-like cells (EpiLCs), a cellular state highly similar to pre-gastrulating epiblasts, but distinct from epiblast stem cells (EpiSCs). The global transcription profiles, epigenetic reprogramming, and cellular dynamics during PGCLC induction from EpiLCs are a meticulous capture of those associated with PGC specification from the epiblasts. Furthermore, we identify Integrin-beta 3 and SSEA1 as markers that purify PGCLCs with spermatogenic capacity free from tumorigenic undifferentiated cells. With the reconstitution of PGC specification pathway from the naive inner cell mass state, our study defines a paradigm for the essential step of in vitro gametogenesis. We performed this analysis to reveal the characters of the cells that we created in this study, epiblast-like cells (EpiLCs) and primordial germ cells-like cells (PGCLCs). Because EpiLCs were induced from embryonic stem cells (ESCs), and equivalent to pre-gastrulating epiblast (embryonic day [E] 5.5-6.0) in vivo (embryo), ESCs and epiblast were included in this analysis. Epiblast stem cells (EpiSCs) are a culture cell type derived from epiblast, and were also included. PGCLCs were supposed to be equivalent to E9.5 PGCs based on reporter fluorescent transgene expressions and epigenetic properties, and therefore E9.5 PGCs were also inckuded in this analysis. Because epiblast and E9.5 PGCs are of a small number of cells in embryos (a few hundred to thousand cells), cDNAs were amplified with a quantitative global PCR method (Kurimoto et al., 2006, Nucleic Acids Research) for microarray analyses. We took two biological replicate for each cell type.
2011-08-04 | E-GEOD-30056 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Reconstitution of female germ-cell development in vitro is a key challenge in reproductive biology and medicine. We show here that female (XX) embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in mice are induced into primordial germ cell-like cells (PGCLCs), which, when aggregated with female gonadal somatic cells as reconstituted ovaries, develop pre-meiotic germ cell characteristics, including X-reactivation, imprint erasure, and cyst formation. Upon transplantation under ovarian bursa, PGCLCs in the reconstituted ovaries mature into germinal vesicle-stage oocytes, which, through in vitro maturation and fertilization, contribute to fertile offspring. Our culture system serves as a robust foundation for the investigation of key properties of female germ cells, including the acquisition of totipotency, and for the reconstitution of whole female germ-cell development in vitro. We performed expression analysis of female PGC-like cells [PGCLCs; day 3 (d3), day 6 (d6), and day 3 followed by day 6 in aggregation with female embryonic day (E) 12.5 gonadal somatic cells (d3ag6)] in comparison to in vivo embryonic PGCs (E12.5 female PGCs and E9.5 PGCs) and male d6 PGCLCs. PGCLCs were marked with fluorescence of Blimp1-mVenus, stella-ECFP transgenic reporters (BVSC). PGCs were marked with fluorescence of the stella-EGFP transgenic reporter.
2012-11-05 | E-GEOD-40716 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Mammalian germ cells first establish as primordial germ cells (PGCs). There is an increasing demand to investigate the characteristics of human germ cells including PGCs. Recent studies have established the methodologies to derive human germ cells such as PGCs from human induced pluripotent cells (iPSCs). The in vitro-derived PGCs are referred to as PGC-like cells (PGCLCs) and exhibit the characteristics of the PGCs immediately after specification. Here we performed bulk RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) of PGCLCs and their parental iPSCs to characterize the expression signatures of human genes and transposable elements in PGCLCs in detail.
2022-03-08 | GSE167570 | GEO
Project description:Transcriptomes of mouse E12.5 primordial germ cells (PGCs), primordial germ cell-like cells (PGCLCs) isolated from 6-day culture embryoid bodies, and the precursor pluripotent stem cells [embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)] and epiblast-like cells (EpiLCs) Total RNA was isolated from FACS-enriched, SSEA1+/CD61+ double-positive PGCs and PGCLCs. RNA was also isolated from ESC, iPSC, and EpiLC cultured without enrichment. Transcriptomes were determined using Affymetrix microarray.
2016-08-22 | E-GEOD-80983 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:The mechanisms for human germ cell development have remained largely unknown, due to the difficulty in obtaining suitable experimental materials. The establishment of an in vitro system to reconstitute human germ cell development will thus provide a critical opportunity to understand its mechanisms at a molecular level. It has previously been shown that human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are first induced into incipient mesoderm-like cells (iMeLCs), which are in turn induced into primordial-germ cell like cells (PGCLCs) with gene expression properties similar to early migratory PGCs. Here we report that the efficiency of PGCLC induction varies among hiPSC clones, and, interestingly, the clonal variations in PGCLC induction efficiency are reflected in the gene-expression states of the iMeLCs. Remarkably, the expression levels of EOMES, MIXL1 or T in the iMeLCs are positively correlated with the efficiency of subsequent PGCLC generation, while the expressions of CDH1, SOX3 or FGF2 are negatively correlated. These results indicate that the expression changes of these genes occurring during iMeLC induction are key markers indicative of successful induction of PGCLCs, and furthermore, that hiPSC clones have different properties that influence their responsivity to the iMeLC induction. Our study thus provides important insights into the mechanism of hPGC specification as well as the development of a better strategy for inducing human germ cell fate from PSCs in vitro.
2017-08-30 | GSE98323 | GEO
Project description:The germ cell lineage ensures the continuity of life through the generation of male and female gametes, which unite to form a totipotent zygote. We have established a culture system that recapitulates the mouse germ-cell specification pathway: Using cytokines, embryonic stem cells (ESCs)/induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are induced into epiblast-like cells (EpiLCs) and then into primordial germ cell-like cells (PGCLCs) with capacity both for spermatogenesis and oogenesis, creating an opportunity for understanding and regulating mammalian germ cell development in both sexes in vitro. Here we show that, without cytokines, simultaneous over-expression of three transcription factors (TFs), Blimp1 (also known as Prdm1), Prdm14 and Tfap2c (also known as AP2γ), directs EpiLCs, but not ESCs, swiftly and highly efficiently into a PGC state with endogenous transcription circuitry. The induction of the PGC state on EpiLCs minimally requires Prdm14 but not Blimp1 or Tfap2c. The TF-induced PGC state reconstitutes key transcriptome and epigenetic reprogramming in PGCs, but bypasses a mesodermal program that accompanies PGC specification in vivo and in vitro by cytokines including BMP4. Importantly, the TF-induced PGC-like cells robustly contribute to spermatogenesis and fertile offspring. Our findings provide not only a novel insight into the transcriptional logic that creates a germ cell state, but also a foundation for the TF-based reconstitution and regulation of mammalian gametogenesis. Aim of this analysis is characterization of transcription factor-induced primordial germ cells (TF-PGCLCs) compared with cytokine-induced primordial germ cells (Ck-PGCLCs) (Hayashi et al., 2011, Cell), epiblast-like cells (EpiLCs) (Hayashi et al., 2011, Cell), and embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and identification of genes differentially expressed among them. TF-PGCLCs induced by multiple combinations of TFs (Blimp1 (B), Prdm14 (P14), and Tfap2c (A) (BP14A), BP14, P14A, P14) on day 2 and 4 (for BP14A cells) of the induction were also compared. Parental clone without exogenous TFs cultured with doxycycline, are also included as a negative control. Ck-PGCLCs day 2 and day 4 samples, which are previously unreported, EpiLCs and ESCs used in this study were also included. Overexpression of exogenous three TFs in ESCs yields stella-ECFP (SC) positive cells, which were sorted and included in the analysis. cDNA samples, prepared from approximately 20,000 cells, were amplified with a quantitative global PCR method (Kurimoto et al., 2006, Nucleic Acids Research). Two biological duplicates for each cell type were analyzed. Samples from GSE30056 were also included and reanalysed (GSM1070855-GSM1070864).
2013-08-04 | E-GEOD-43775 | biostudies-arrayexpress