embryonic stem cells

[Science] Researchers developed culture conditions to recreate the stepwise differentiation process from pluripotent cells to fetal ovarian somatic cell–like cells, providing a method for in vitro oocyte production and follicle generation for a better understanding of mammalian reproduction.

[Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology] The authors discuss how different translation mechanisms control the function of adult and embryonic stem cells.

[Nature Genetics] p53 activation convergently evolved to couple p53 to double homeobox (Dux)/DUX4 activation in ESCs, embryos and cells from patients with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), potentially uniting the developmental and disease regulation of DUX-family factors and identifying evidence-based therapeutic opportunities for FSHD.

[Advanced Science] A low-cost protocol for cardiomyocyte differentiation from mouse ESCs is presented and it is shown that Pten deletion potently suppressed cardiomyocyte differentiation.

[Nature Communications] Investigators established directed differentiation models to generate tendon and fibrocartilage cells from mouse ESCs by activation of TGFβ and hedgehog pathways, achieving 90% induction efficiency.

[Genes & Development] The authors showed that conditional Satb2 gene inactivation weakened ESC pluripotency, and identified SUMO2 modification of SATB2 by the E3 ligase ZFP451 as a potential driver of ESC differentiation.