Determining the potency of primordial germ cells by injection into early mouse embryos.
Dev Cell
; 59(6): 695-704.e5, 2024 Mar 25.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38359835
ABSTRACT
Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are the earliest precursors of the gametes. During normal development, PGCs only give rise to oocytes or spermatozoa. However, PGCs can acquire pluripotency in vitro by forming embryonic germ (EG) cells and in vivo during teratocarcinogenesis. Classic embryological experiments directly assessed the potency of PGCs by injection into the pre-implantation embryo. As no contribution to embryos or adult mice was observed, PGCs have been described as unipotent. Here, we demonstrate that PGCs injected into 8-cell embryos can initially survive, divide, and contribute to the developing inner cell mass. Apoptosis-deficient PGCs exhibit improved survival in isolated epiblasts and can form naive pluripotent embryonic stem cell lines. However, contribution to the post-implantation embryo is limited, with no functional incorporation observed. In contrast, PGC-like cells show an extensive contribution to mid-gestation chimeras. We thus propose that PGC formation in vivo establishes a latent form of pluripotency that restricts chimera contribution.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pluripotent Stem Cells
/
Germ Cells
Limits:
Animals
Language:
En
Journal:
Dev Cell
Journal subject:
EMBRIOLOGIA
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article