Molecular and functional features demarcate embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells in rabbits

ABSTRACT: Little is known about the molecular and functional features of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) in rabbits. To address this, we derived and characterized two types of rabbit PSCs from the same breed of New Zealand White rabbits: four lines of embryonic stem cells (rbESCs), and three lines of induced PSCs (rbiPSCs) that resulted from reprogramming adult skin fibroblasts. All lines were dependent on fibroblast growth factor 2. All rbESC lines exhibited molecular and functional properties typically associated with primed pluripotency. The rbESC lines also exhibited a cell cycle with a prolonged G1 phase and a DNA damage checkpoint prior to entry into the S phase, which are two features typically associated with the somatic cell cycle. In contrast, the rbiPSC lines exhibited some characteristics of naïve pluripotency as defined in rodents, including resistance to single cell dissociation by trypsin, robust activity of the distal enhancer of the mouse Oct4 gene, and expression of naïve-specific genes. According to gene expression profiles, rbiPSCs were closer to the rabbit inner cell mass than rbESCs. We propose that rbiPSCs self-renew in an intermediate state between naïve and primed pluripotency, which represents a key step toward the generation of bona fide naïve PSC lines in rabbits The patterns of stage specific embryonic antigen (SSEA) expression were also assessed between cell lines. All two rbiPSC lines exhibited heterogeneous expression of SSEA1 and SSEA4 that leads to obtain 3 different cell sub-populations (SSEA1+, SSEA1+/4+, SSEA1-/4-). All four rbESC lines expressed only SSEA1 and not SSEA4. Then, for this category of cell lines, we used 3 different cell sub-populations (SSEA1+, SSEA1-, and total which contained all cell types). Three independent experiments were performed for each line and for each cell sub-population.

ORGANISM(S): Oryctolagus cuniculus

SUBMITTER: barbara schmaltz-barbara 

PROVIDER: E-GEOD-43403 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress