An Extended Culture System That Supports Human Primordial Germ Cell-like Cell Survival and Initiation of DNA Methylation Erasure

Overview

Journal Stem Cell Reports

Publisher Cell Press

Specialty Cell Biology

Date 2020 Feb 16

PMID 32059791

Citations 20

Authors

Joanna J Gell

Wanlu Liu

Enrique Sosa

Alex Chialastri

Grace Hancock

Yu Tao

Sissy E Wamaitha

Grace Bower

Siddharth S Dey

Amander T Clark

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The development of an in vitro system in which human primordial germ cell-like cells (hPGCLCs) are generated from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) has been invaluable to further our understanding of human primordial germ cell (hPGC) specification. However, the means to evaluate the next fundamental steps in germ cell development have not been well established. In this study we describe a two dimensional extended culture system that promotes proliferation of specified hPGCLCs, without reversion to a pluripotent state. We demonstrate that hPGCLCs in extended culture undergo partial epigenetic reprogramming, mirroring events described in hPGCs in vivo, including a genome-wide reduction in DNA methylation and maintenance of depleted H3K9me2. This extended culture system provides a new approach for expanding the number of hPGCLCs for downstream technologies, including transplantation, molecular screening, or possibly the differentiation of hPGCLCs into gametes by in vitro gametogenesis.

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