Project description:Pluripotency of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) can be functionally assessed according to their developmental potency. Tetraploid complementation, through which an entire organism is produced from donor pluripotent cells, is taken as the most stringent test for pluripotency. It remains unclear whether ESCs from other species besides mice can pass this test. Here we show that the rat ESCs at very early passages are also capable to produce fertile offspring by tetraploid complementation, however, this capacity is rapidly lost during culture due to the loss of genomic imprinting. Our findings support that the naïve ground state pluripotency exists in rat and can be captured in rat ESCs, yet may be subjected to species-specific regulations, which have implications for the derivation and application of naïve pluripotent stem cells in other species including human.
Project description:Pluripotency of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) can be functionally assessed according to their developmental potency. Tetraploid complementation, through which an entire organism is produced from donor pluripotent cells, is taken as the most stringent test for pluripotency. It remains unclear whether ESCs from other species besides mice can pass this test. Here we show that the rat ESCs at very early passages are also capable to produce fertile offspring by tetraploid complementation, however, this capacity is rapidly lost during culture due to the loss of genomic imprinting. Our findings support that the naïve ground state pluripotency exists in rat and can be captured in rat ESCs, yet may be subjected to species-specific regulations, which have implications for the derivation and application of naïve pluripotent stem cells in other species including human.
Project description:Ectopic expression of four transcription factors including Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and c-Myc in differentiated fibroblast cells could reset the cell fate of fibroblast cells to pluripotent state. Subsequently, fully pluripotency of these so-called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) has been demonstrated as viable mice could be generated autonomously from iPS cells through tetraploid blastocyst complementation. Moreover, the generation of human and patient-specific iPS cells have raised the possibility of utilizing iPS cells clinically. However, the utilization of c-Myc in iPS cells induction greatly increased the incidence of tumorigenecity in the iPS-chimeric mice and also might hinder the clinical application of human iPS cells in the future. Fortunately, c-Myc has been recently found dispensable for iPS induction even though the iPS induction efficiency is greatly reduced in the absence of c-Myc. However, it remains unknown if these three factors-induced iPS cells are fully pluripotent. In the present study, we have successfully demonstrated that 3-factor iPS cells could also be fully pluripotent as viable mice could be generated from 3-factor iPS cells autonomously via tetraploid complementation and moreover, our data indicated that the pluripotency regulatory mechanism in 3-factor iPS cells might be distinct from 4-factor iPS cells. We compared the gene expression profile of iPS cells with and without the tetraploid embryo complementation competence. Three biological repeats were included for each line.
Project description:Ectopic expression of four transcription factors including Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and c-Myc in differentiated fibroblast cells could reset the cell fate of fibroblast cells to pluripotent state. Subsequently, fully pluripotency of these so-called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) has been demonstrated as viable mice could be generated autonomously from iPS cells through tetraploid blastocyst complementation. Moreover, the generation of human and patient-specific iPS cells have raised the possibility of utilizing iPS cells clinically. However, the utilization of c-Myc in iPS cells induction greatly increased the incidence of tumorigenecity in the iPS-chimeric mice and also might hinder the clinical application of human iPS cells in the future. Fortunately, c-Myc has been recently found dispensable for iPS induction even though the iPS induction efficiency is greatly reduced in the absence of c-Myc. However, it remains unknown if these three factors-induced iPS cells are fully pluripotent. In the present study, we have successfully demonstrated that 3-factor iPS cells could also be fully pluripotent as viable mice could be generated from 3-factor iPS cells autonomously via tetraploid complementation and moreover, our data indicated that the pluripotency regulatory mechanism in 3-factor iPS cells might be distinct from 4-factor iPS cells.