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Reprogramming primordial germ cells into pluripotent stem cells.
oleh: Gabriela Durcova-Hills, Fuchou Tang, Gina Doody, Reuben Tooze, M Azim Surani
| Format: | Article |
|---|---|
| Diterbitkan: | Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2008-01-01 |
Deskripsi
<h4>Background</h4>Specification of primordial germ cells (PGCs) results in the conversion of pluripotent epiblast cells into monopotent germ cell lineage. Blimp1/Prmt5 complex plays a critical role in the specification and maintenance of the early germ cell lineage. However, PGCs can be induced to dedifferentiate back to a pluripotent state as embryonic germ (EG) cells when exposed to exogenous signaling molecules, FGF-2, LIF and SCF.<h4>Methodology and principal findings</h4>Here we show that Trichostatin A (TSA), an inhibitor of histone deacetylases, is a highly potent agent that can replace FGF-2 to induce dedifferentiation of PGCs into EG cells. A key early event during dedifferentiation of PGCs in response to FGF-2 or TSA is the down-regulation of Blimp1, which reverses and apparently relieves the cell fate restriction imposed by it. Notably, the targets of Blimp1, which include c-Myc and Klf-4, which represent two of the key factors known to promote reprogramming of somatic cells to pluripotent state, are up-regulated. We also found early activation of the LIF/Stat-3 signaling pathway with the translocation of Stat-3 into the nucleus. By contrast, while Prmt5 is retained in EG cells, it translocates from the nucleus to the cytoplasm where it probably has an independent role in regulating pluripotency.<h4>Conclusions/significance</h4>We propose that dedifferentiation of PGCs into EG cells may provide significant mechanistic insights on early events associated with reprogramming of committed cells to a pluripotent state.