Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology (Dec 2021)

Generation of Sheep Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells With Defined DOX-Inducible Transcription Factors via piggyBac Transposition

  • Moning Liu,
  • Lixia Zhao,
  • Lixia Zhao,
  • Zixin Wang,
  • Hong Su,
  • Tong Wang,
  • Guang Yang,
  • Lu Chen,
  • Baojiang Wu,
  • Gaoping Zhao,
  • Jitong Guo,
  • Zhiqing Yang,
  • Jia Zhang,
  • Chunxia Hao,
  • Teng Ma,
  • Yongli Song,
  • Siqin Bao,
  • Yongchun Zuo,
  • Xihe Li,
  • Xihe Li,
  • Guifang Cao

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2021.785055
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9

Abstract

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Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) have the potential to differentiate to all cell types of an adult individual and are useful for studying mammalian development. Establishing induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) capable of expressing pluripotent genes and differentiating to three germ layers will not only help to explain the mechanisms underlying somatic reprogramming but also lay the foundation for the establishment of sheep embryonic stem cells (ESCs) in vitro. In this study, sheep somatic cells were reprogrammed in vitro into sheep iPSCs with stable morphology, pluripotent marker expression, and differentiation ability, delivered by piggyBac transposon system with eight doxycycline (DOX)-inducible exogenous reprogramming factors: bovine OCT4, SOX2, KLF4, cMYC, porcine NANOG, human LIN28, SV40 large T antigen, and human TERT. Sheep iPSCs exhibited a chimeric contribution to the early blastocysts of sheep and mice and E6.5 mouse embryos in vitro. A transcriptome analysis revealed the pluripotent characteristics of somatic reprogramming and insights into sheep iPSCs. This study provides an ideal experimental material for further study of the construction of totipotent ESCs in sheep.

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