embryonic stem cells

[Stem Cell Reports] Researchers developed a rapid protein-level OCT4 depletion system that demonstrated that the immediate downstream response to loss of OCT4 was reduced expression of key pluripotency factors.

[Nature Communications] The authors investigated the role of methylation of the core methyltransferase METTL3/METTL14 in m6A regulation. They found that global mRNA m6A levels were greatly decreased in METTL14 R255K mutant mouse ESCs (mESCs) and that that loss of R255me preferentially affected endoderm differentiation in mESCs.

[Stem Cell Research] Cell line derivation, its propagation and storage of the human embryonic stem cell line, KthES11, were performed without feeders in an animal product-free environment according to current Good Manufacturing Practice standards.

[Nature Communications] Researchers demonstrated that the transcription factor E2F6, a member of the polycomb repressive complex 1.6, was critical to target and initiate epigenetic silencing at germline genes in early embryogenesis.

[Cell Reports] The authors reported that MEK1/2 inhibitors could be replaced during maintenance of naive human pluripotency by inhibitors targeting either upstream or downstream kinases. Naive human ESCs maintained under these alternative conditions displayed elevated levels of ERK phosphorylation but retained genome-wide DNA hypomethylation and a transcriptional identity of the pre-implantation epiblast.

[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America] Scientists examined epigenome remodeling at the onset of human nuclear reprogramming by profiling human fibroblasts after fusion with murine ESCs. Efficient reprogramming of human fibroblasts to iPSCs was achieved by transduction with vectors expressing SOX2, KLF4, and inducible dnAP-1, demonstrating that dnAP-1 can substitute for exogenous human OCT4.