Capturing totipotency in human cells through spliceosomal repression.
Cell
; 187(13): 3284-3302.e23, 2024 Jun 20.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38843832
ABSTRACT
The cleavage of zygotes generates totipotent blastomeres. In human 8-cell blastomeres, zygotic genome activation (ZGA) occurs to initiate the ontogenesis program. However, capturing and maintaining totipotency in human cells pose significant challenges. Here, we realize culturing human totipotent blastomere-like cells (hTBLCs). We find that splicing inhibition can transiently reprogram human pluripotent stem cells into ZGA-like cells (ZLCs), which subsequently transition into stable hTBLCs after long-term passaging. Distinct from reported 8-cell-like cells (8CLCs), both ZLCs and hTBLCs widely silence pluripotent genes. Interestingly, ZLCs activate a particular group of ZGA-specific genes, and hTBLCs are enriched with pre-ZGA-specific genes. During spontaneous differentiation, hTBLCs re-enter the intermediate ZLC stage and further generate epiblast (EPI)-, primitive endoderm (PrE)-, and trophectoderm (TE)-like lineages, effectively recapitulating human pre-implantation development. Possessing both embryonic and extraembryonic developmental potency, hTBLCs can autonomously generate blastocyst-like structures in vitro without external cell signaling. In summary, our study provides key criteria and insights into human cell totipotency.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Cell Differentiation
/
Spliceosomes
Limits:
Animals
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Cell
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Country of publication: