E-cadherin promotes incorporation of mouse epiblast stem cells into normal development

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 7; no. 9; p. e45220
• Main Authors: Ohtsuka, Satoshi, Nishikawa-Torikai, Satomi, Niwa, Hitoshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 18.09.2012; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Animals; Biology; Blastocyst - cytology; Blastocyst - metabolism; Blastocysts; Cadherins; Cadherins - genetics; Cell culture; Cell Differentiation; Cell Line; Cells, Cultured; Chimeras; Comparative analysis; Developmental biology; DNA Transposable Elements; E-cadherin; Embryo cells; Embryonic development; Embryonic stem cells; Embryonic Stem Cells - cytology; Embryonic Stem Cells - metabolism; Embryos; Female; Gene Expression; Genetic aspects; Genetic Vectors; Germ Layers - cytology; Germ Layers - metabolism; Injection; Male; Mice; Microinjections; Physiological aspects; Pluripotency; Pluripotent Stem Cells - cytology; Pluripotent Stem Cells - metabolism; Pluripotent Stem Cells - transplantation; Rodents; Stem cell transplantation; Stem cells; Transgenes; Transplantation Chimera - genetics; Transplantation Chimera - growth & development; Japan
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0045220

Mouse epiblast stem cells (mEpiSCs) are pluripotent stem cells derived from epiblasts of postimplantation mouse embryos. Their pluripotency is distinct from that of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) in several cell biological criteria. One of the distinctions is that mEpiSCs contribute either not at all or at much lower efficiency to chimeric embryos after blastocyst injection compared to mESCs. However, here we showed that mEpiSCs can be incorporated into normal development after blastocyst injection by forced expression of the E-cadherin transgene for 2 days in culture. Using this strategy, mEpiSCs gave rise to live-born chimeras from 5% of the manipulated blastocysts. There were no obvious signs of reprogramming of mEpiSCs toward the mESC-like state during the 2 days after induction of the E-cadherin transgene, suggesting that mEpiSCs possess latent ability to integrate into the normal developmental process as its origin, epiblasts.