Offspring from Oocytes Derived from in Vitro Primordial Germ Cell-like Cells in Mice
Abstract
Reconstitution of female germ cell development in vitro is a key challenge in reproductive biology and medicine. We show here that female (XX) embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells in mice are induced into primordial germ cell-like cells (PGCLCs), which, when aggregated with female gonadal somatic cells as reconstituted ovaries, undergo X-reactivation, imprint erasure, and cyst formation, and exhibit meiotic potential. Upon transplantation under mouse ovarian bursa, PGCLCs in the reconstituted ovaries mature into germinal vesicle-stage oocytes, which then contribute to fertile offspring after in vitro maturation and fertilization. Our culture system serves as a robust foundation for the investigation of key properties of female germ cells, including the acquisition of totipotency, and for the reconstitution of whole female germ cell development in vitro.
- Publication:
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Science
- Pub Date:
- November 2012
- DOI:
- 10.1126/science.1226889
- Bibcode:
- 2012Sci...338..971H
- Keywords:
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- DEVELOPMENT