Tetraploid embryonic stem cells maintain pluripotency and differentiation potency into three germ layers

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25660254
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Integrative animal science
• Research Institution: Yamaguchi University
• Principal Investigator: KANO Kiyoshi 山口大学, 獣医学部, 准教授 (40312516)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 4倍体 / ES細胞 / マウス / 多倍体 / 多能性

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Polyploid amphibians and fishes occur naturally in nature, while polyploid mammals do not. Thus, polyploidization is thought to be harmful during early mammalian development. However, the mechanisms through which polyploidization disrupts development are still poorly understood. In this study, we aimed to elucidate how genome duplication affects early mammalian development. We demonstrated that TESCs possessed essential pluripotency and differentiation potency to form teratomas, which differentiated into the three germ layers, including diploid embryonic stem cells. TESCs also exhibited sufficient expression and localization of pluripotent markers and retained the normal epigenetic status of relevant reprogramming factors. Thus, our findings suggested that mouse ESCs maintained intrinsic pluripotency and differentiation potential despite tetraploidization, providing insights into our understanding of developmental elimination in polyploid mammals.

Free Research Field

発生遺伝学