Mouse embryonic stem cell-derived feeder cells support the growth of their own mouse embryonic stem cells

Feeder cells are usually used in culturing embryonic stem cells (ESCs) to maintain their undifferentiated and pluripotent status. To test whether mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) may be a source of feeder cells to support their own growth, 48 fibroblast-like cell lines were isolated from the same mouse embryoid bodies (mEBs) at three phases (10th day, 15th day, 20th day), and five of them, mostly derived from 15th day mEBs, were capable of maintaining mESCs in an undifferentiated and pluripotent state over 10 passages, even up to passage 20. mESCs cultured on the feeder system derived from these five cell lines expressed alkaline phosphatase and specific mESCs markers, including SSEA-1, Oct-4, Nanog, and formed mEBs in vitro and teratomas in vivo. These results suggest that mEB-derived fibroblasts (mEB-dFs) could serve as feeder cells that could sustain the undifferentiated growth and pluripotency of their own mESCs in culture. This study not only provides a novel feeder system for mESCs culture, avoiding a lot of disadvantages of commonly used mouse embryonic fibroblasts as feeder cells, but also indicates that fibroblast-like cells derived from mESCs take on different functions. Investigating the molecular mechanisms of these different functional fibroblast-like cells to act on mESCs will contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms of mESCs self-renewal.     

Ganglioside GM1 influences the proliferation rate of mouse induced pluripotent stem cells

Gangliosides play important roles in the control of several biological processes, including proliferation and transmembrane signaling. In this study, we demonstrate the effect of ganglioside GM1 on the proliferation of mouse induced pluripotent stem cells (miPSCs). The proliferation rate of miPSCs was lower than in mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs). Fluorescence activated cell sorting analysis showed that the percentage of cells in the G2/M phase in miPSCs was lower than that in mESCs. GM1 was expressed in mESCs, but not miPSCs. To confirm the role of GM1 in miPSC proliferation, miPSCs were treated with GM1. GM1-treated miPSCs exhibited increased cell proliferation and a larger number of cells in the G2/M phase. Furthermore, phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases was increased in GM1-treated miPSCs. [BMB Reports 2012; 45(12): 713-718]     

Role of circadian gene Clock during differentiation of mouse pluripotent stem cells

Biological rhythms controlled by the circadian clock are absent in embryonic stem cells (ESCs). However, they start to develop during the differentiation of pluripotent ESCs to downstream cells. Conversely, biological rhythms in adult somatic cells disappear when they are reprogrammed into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). These studies indicated that the development of biological rhythms in ESCs might be closely associated with the maintenance and differentiation of ESCs. The core circadian gene Clock is essential for regulation of biological rhythms. Its role in the development of biological rhythms of ESCs is totally unknown. Here, we used CRISPR/CAS9-mediated genetic editing techniques, to completely knock out the Clock expression in mouse ESCs. By AP, teratoma formation, quantitative real-time PCR and Immunofluorescent staining, we did not find any difference between Clock knockout mESCs and wild type mESCs in morphology and pluripotent capability under the pluripotent state. In brief, these data indicated Clock did not influence the maintaining of pluripotent state. However, they exhibited decreased proliferation and increased apoptosis. Furthermore, the biological rhythms failed to develop in Clock knockout mESCs after spontaneous differentiation, which indicated that there was no compensational factor in most peripheral tissues as described in mice models before (DeBruyne et al., 2007b). After spontaneous differentiation, loss of CLOCK protein due to Clock gene silencing induced spontaneous differentiation of mESCs, indicating an exit from the pluripotent state, or its differentiating ability. Our findings indicate that the core circadian gene Clock may be essential during normal mESCs differentiation by regulating mESCs proliferation, apoptosis and activity.     

Metabolic characterization of a paused-like pluripotent state

Embryonic diapause is a conserved reproductive strategy in which development arrests at the blastocyst phase. Recently mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibition was shown to induce diapause on mouse blastocysts and a paused-like state on mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs). In this work, we aimed to further characterize this new paused-pluripotent state, focusing on its glycolytic and oxidative metabolic function. We therefore exposed mESCs, to the mTOR inhibitor INK-128 and evaluated proliferation, pluripotency status and energy-related metabolism, as well as the mTOR inhibition status and translational function. Unexpectedly, in our hands INK-128 did not inhibit the phosphorylation of mTOR or its downstream targets after 48 h. Accordingly, no alterations on protein translational function were observed. Nonetheless, INK-128 could still successfully induce a paused-like state in naïve mESCs regardless of their culturing conditions, by greatly slowing proliferation without affecting pluripotency status. This effect was more prevalent in 2i cultured cells. Interestingly, in this paused-like state, mESCs present a glucose-related hypometabolic profile, which is a hallmark of diapaused blastocysts, with decreased glycolytic and oxidative metabolism and decreased nutrient uptake. Despite the lack of mTOR inhibition and translational suppression, INK-128 still induced a paused-like pluripotent state through cell cycle and metabolic modulation, rather than by translational suppression, suggesting more than one avenue for this type of pluripotent phenotype.     

Modified hyaluronan hydrogels support the maintenance of mouse embryonic stem cells and human induced pluripotent stem cells

These studies provide evidence for the ability of a commercially available, defined, hyaluronan-gelatin hydrogel, HyStem-C?, to maintain both mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) and human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) in culture while retaining their growth and pluripotent characteristics. Growth curve and doubling time analysis show that mESCs and hiPSCs grow at similar rates on HyStem-C? hydrogels and mouse embryonic fibroblasts and Matrigel?, respectively. Immunocytochemistry, flow cytometry, gene expression and karyotyping reveal that both human and murine pluripotent cells retain a high level of pluripotency on the hydrogels after multiple passages. The addition of fibronectin to HyStem-C? enabled the attachment of hiPSCs in a xeno-free, fully defined medium.     

Intracellular and secreted proteins of density-inhibited, serum-arrested and proliferating mouse embryo cells

Short-term labelling of secondary cultures of mouse embryo fibroblasts with [14-C] aminoacids enabled the identification and quantitation of proteins specific for quiescent and proliferative stages. Intracellular and secreted proteins of cells maintained under different growth conditions were resolved in high resolution SDS-polyacrylamide gradient gels. Two proteins, identified as fibronectin and procollagens and a 34 000 D polypeptide were found to be secreted by all three types (density-arrested, serum arrested and proliferating) of cells. Both types of arrested cells exclusively secreted a 375 000 D protein while the proliferating cells specifically secreted a 48 000 D polypeptide. During progression of cells from quiescence to proliferation, two intracellular proteins showed major variations. A 205 000 D intracellular protein was found to be synthesized in higher amounts by proliferating cells than by arrested cells. Another protein, identified as actin, showed a marked increase in synthesis following the release of cells from serum arrest. The arrested cells showed reduced levels of actin synthesis and the turning-off process in the synthesis of actin was found to be relatively slow as the cells entered into quiescence.     

Glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) inhibitor, SB-216763, promotes pluripotency in mouse embryonic stem cells

Canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling has been suggested to promote self-renewal of pluripotent mouse and human embryonic stem cells. Here, we show that SB-216763, a glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3) inhibitor, can maintain mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) in a pluripotent state in the absence of exogenous leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) when cultured on mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs). MESCs maintained with SB-216763 for one month were morphologically indistinguishable from LIF-treated mESCs and expressed pluripotent-specific genes Oct4, Sox2, and Nanog. Furthermore, Nanog immunostaining was more homogenous in SB-216763-treated colonies compared to LIF. Embryoid bodies (EBs) prepared from these mESCs expressed early-stage markers for all three germ layers, and could efficiently differentiate into cardiac-like cells and MAP2-immunoreactive neurons. To our knowledge, SB-216763 is the first GSK3 inhibitor that can promote self-renewal of mESC co-cultured with MEFs for more than two months.     

Cellular reprogramming by single-cell fusion with mouse embryonic stem cells in pig

Fusion of differentiated somatic cells with pluripotent stem cells can be used for cellular reprogramming, but the efficiency to obtain hybrid cells is extremely low. Here, we explored a novel cell fusion system, termed single-cell fusion, the efficiency was significantly improved verified by fusion of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs), comparing to traditional polyethylene glycol fusion. Then, we employed the optimized system to perform cell fusion of porcine embryonic fibroblasts (PEFs) and porcine pluripotent stem cells (pPSCs) with mESCs. The hybrid cells showed both red and green fluorescence and expressed species-specific genes of mouse and pig to evidence that the fusion was successful. The hybrid cells displayed characteristics similar with mESCs, including colony morphology, alkaline phosphatase positive and formation of embryoid body, and the expressions of core pluripotent factors OCT4, NANOG, and SOX2 of the pig were induced in the mESC/PEF hybrid cells. The results indicate PEFs and pPSCs could be reprogrammed by mESCs via the single-cell fusion. Taking advantage of the hybrid cells to investigate the signaling pathways depended on the pluripotency of pig, we suggest the transforming growth factor-β signaling pathways may play important roles. In summary, the single-cell fusion is highly efficient, and we believe in the future it will be widely used in the application and fundamental research.     

Expression of TGFβ family factors and FGF2 in mouse and human embryonic stem cells maintained in different culture systems

Mouse and human embryonic stem cells are in different states of pluripotency (naive/ground and primed states). Mechanisms of signaling regulation in cells with ground and primed states of pluripotency are considerably different. In order to understand the contribution of endogenous and exogenous factors in the maintenance of a metastable state of the cells in different phases of pluripotency, we examined the expression of TGFβ family factors (ActivinA, Nodal, Lefty1, TGFβ1, GDF3, BMP4) and FGF2 initiating the appropriate signaling pathways in mouse and human embryonic stem cells (mESCs, hESCs) and supporting feeder cells. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis of gene expression showed that the expression patterns of endogenous factors studied were considerably different in mESCs and hESCs. The most significant differences were found in the levels of endogenous expression of TGFβ1, BMP4 and ActivinA. The sources of exogenous factors ActivnA, TGFβ1, and FGF2 for hESCs are feeder cells (mouse and human embryonic fibroblasts) expressing high levels of these factors, as well as low levels of BMP4. Thus, our data demonstrated that the in vitro maintenance of metastable state of undifferentiated pluripotent cells is achieved in mESCs and hESCs using different schemes of the regulations of ActivinA/Nodal/Lefty/Smad2/3 and BMP/Smad1/5/8 endogenous branches of TGFβ signaling. The requirement for exogenous stimulation or inhibition of these signaling pathways is due to different patterns of endogenous expression of TGFβ family factors and FGF2 in the mESCs and hESCs. For the hESCs, enhanced activity of ActivinA/Nodal/Lefty/Smad2/3 signaling by exogenous factor stimulation is necessary to mitigate the effects of BMP/Smad1/5/8 signaling pathways that promote cell differentiation into the extraembryonic structures. Significant differences in endogenous FGF2 expression in the cells in the ground and primed states of pluripotency demonstrate diverse involvement of this factor in the regulation of the pluripotent cell self-renewal.     

Genetic Heterogeneity of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells: Results from 24 Clones Derived from a Single C57BL/6 Mouse

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have tremendous potential as a tool for disease modeling, drug testing, and other applications. Since the generation of iPSCs “captures” the genetic history of the individual cell that was reprogrammed, iPSC clones (even those derived from the same individual) would be expected to demonstrate genetic heterogeneity. To assess the degree of genetic heterogeneity, and to determine whether some cells are more genetically “fit” for reprogramming, we performed exome sequencing on 24 mouse iPSC clones derived from skin fibroblasts obtained from two different sites of the same 8-week-old C57BL/6J male mouse. While no differences in the coding regions were detected in the two parental fibroblast pools, each clone had a unique genetic signature with a wide range of heterogeneity observed among the individual clones: a total of 383 iPSC variants were validated for the 24 clones (mean 16.0/clone, range 0–45). Since these variants were all present in the vast majority of the cells in each clone (variant allele frequencies of 40–60% for heterozygous variants), they most likely preexisted in the individual cells that were reprogrammed, rather than being acquired during reprogramming or cell passaging. We then tested whether this genetic heterogeneity had functional consequences for hematopoietic development by generating hematopoietic progenitors in vitro and enumerating colony forming units (CFUs). While there was a range of hematopoietic potentials among the 24 clones, only one clone failed to differentiate into hematopoietic cells; however, it was able to form a teratoma, proving its pluripotent nature. Further, no specific association was found between the mutational spectrum and the hematopoietic potential of each iPSC clone. These data clearly highlight the genetic heterogeneity present within individual fibroblasts that is captured by iPSC generation, and suggest that most of the changes are random, and functionally benign.     

BMP4 preserves the developmental potential of mESCs through Ube2s- and Chmp4b-mediated chromosomal stability safeguarding

Chemically defined medium is widely used for culturing mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs), in which N2B27 works as a substitution for serum, and GSK3β and MEK inhibitors (2i) help to promote ground-state pluripotency. However, recent studies suggested that MEKi might cause irreversible defects that compromise the developmental potential of mESCs. Here, we demonstrated the deficient bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signal in the chemically defined condition is one of the main causes for the impaired pluripotency. Mechanistically, activating the BMP signal pathway by BMP4 could safeguard the chromosomal integrity and proliferation capacity of mESCs through regulating downstream targets Ube2s and Chmp4b. More importantly, BMP4 promotes a distinct in vivo developmental potential and a long-term pluripotency preservation. Besides, the pluripotent improvements driven by BMP4 are superior to those by attenuating MEK suppression. Taken together, our study shows appropriate activation of BMP signal is essential for regulating functional pluripotency and reveals that BMP4 should be applied in the serum-free culture system. Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13238-021-00896-x.     

Proliferation stage-dependent expression of DNA methyltransferase (Dnmt1) in mouse small intestine

In cultured cells, the maintenance-type DNA methyltransferase (Dnmt1) is highly expressed during the proliferation stage. In the present study, we detected significant expression of Dnmt1 protein in the nuclear fraction of mouse small intestine. From its mobility in SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and the specific antibodies against the somatic cell-type Dnmt1, Dnmt1 was determined as a somatic cell type. Immunofluorescence study revealed that the Dnmt1 was highly expressed in the proliferating stem cells in crypts, and was localized in the nuclei. The present results indicate that the expression of Dnmt1 in vivo is also under the control of cell proliferation as in cultured cells.     

A human endothelial cell feeder system that efficiently supports the undifferentiated growth of mouse embryonic stem cells

Feeder cells are commonly used to culture embryonic stem cells to maintain their undifferentiated and pluripotent status. Conventionally, mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs), supplemented with leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), are used as feeder cells to support the growth of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) in culture. To prepare for fresh MEF feeder or for MEF-conditioned medium, sacrifice of mouse fetuses repeatedly is unavoidable in these tedious culture systems. Here we report the discovery of a human endothelial cell line (ECV-304 cell line) that efficiently supports growth of mESCs LIF-free conditions. mESCs that were successfully cultured for eight to 20 passages on ECV-304 feeders showed morphological characteristics similar to cells cultured in traditional feeder cell systems. These cells expressed the stem cell markers Oct3/4, Nanog, Sox2, and SSEA-1. Furthermore, cells cultured on the ECV-304 cell line were able to differentiate into three germ layers and were able to generate chimeric mice. Compared with traditional culture systems, there is no requirement for mouse fetuses and exogenous LIF does not need to be added to the culture system. As a stable cell line, the ECV-304 cell line efficiently replaces MEFs as an effective feeder system and allows the efficient expansion of mESCs.     

Activation of the Imprinted Dlk1-Dio3 Region Correlates with Pluripotency Levels of Mouse Stem Cells

Low reprogramming efficiency and reduced pluripotency have been the two major obstacles in induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell research. An effective and quick method to assess the pluripotency levels of iPS cells at early stages would significantly increase the success rate of iPS cell generation and promote its applications. We have identified a conserved imprinted region of the mouse genome, the Dlk1-Dio3 region, which was activated in fully pluripotent mouse stem cells but repressed in partially pluripotent cells. The degree of activation of this region was positively correlated with the pluripotency levels of stem cells. A mammalian conserved cluster of microRNAs encoded by this region exhibited significant expression differences between full and partial pluripotent stem cells. Several microRNAs from this cluster potentially target components of the polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) and may form a feedback regulatory loop resulting in the expression of all genes and non-coding RNAs encoded by this region in full pluripotent stem cells. No other genomic regions were found to exhibit such clear expression changes between cell lines with different pluripotency levels; therefore, the Dlk1-Dio3 region may serve as a marker to identify fully pluripotent iPS or embryonic stem cells from partial pluripotent cells. These findings also provide a step forward toward understanding the operating mechanisms during reprogramming to produce iPS cells and can potentially promote the application of iPS cells in regenerative medicine and cancer therapy.     

PIWI Proteins Are Dispensable for Mouse Somatic Development and Reprogramming of Fibroblasts into Pluripotent Stem Cells

PIWI proteins play essential and conserved roles in germline development, including germline stem cell maintenance and meiosis. Because germline regulators such as OCT4, NANOG, and SOX2 are known to be potent factors that reprogram differentiated somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), we investigated whether the PIWI protein family is involved in iPSC production. We find that all three mouse Piwi genes, Miwi, Mili, and Miwi2, are expressed in embryonic stem cells (ESCs) at higher levels than in fibroblasts, with Mili being the highest. However, mice lacking all three Piwi genes are viable and female fertile, and are only male sterile. Furthermore, embryonic fibroblasts derived from Miwi/Mili/Miwi2 triple knockout embryos can be efficiently reprogrammed into iPS cells. These iPS cells expressed pluripotency markers and were capable of differentiating into all three germ layers in teratoma assays. Genome-wide expression profiling reveals that the triple knockout iPS cells are very similar to littermate control iPS cells. These results indicate that PIWI proteins are dispensable for direct reprogramming of mouse fibroblasts.     

Pluripotent stem cells induced from mouse neural stem cells and small intestinal epithelial cells by small molecule compounds

Recently, we reported a chemical approach to generate pluripotent stem cells from mouse fibroblasts. However, whether chemically induced pluripotent stem cells (CiPSCs) can be derived from other cell types remains to be demonstrated. Here, using lineage tracing, we first verify the generation of CiPSCs from fibroblasts. Next, we demonstrate that neural stem cells (NSCs) from the ectoderm and small intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) from the endoderm can be chemically reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells. CiPSCs derived from NSCs and IECs resemble mouse embryonic stem cells in proliferation rate, global gene expression profile, epigenetic status, self-renewal and differentiation capacity, and germline transmission competency. Interestingly, the pluripotency gene Sall4 is expressed at the initial stage in the chemical reprogramming process from different cell types, and the same core small molecules are required for the reprogramming, suggesting conservation in the molecular mechanism underlying chemical reprogramming from these diverse cell types. Our analysis also shows that the use of these small molecules should be fine-tuned to meet the requirement of reprogramming from different cell types. Together, these findings demonstrate that full chemical reprogramming approach can be applied in cells of different tissue origins and suggest that chemical reprogramming is a promising strategy with the potential to be extended to more initial types.