Inhibition of PRC2 enables self-renewal of blastoid-competent naive pluripotent stem cells from chimpanzee


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Date

2025-04-03

Publication Type

Journal Article

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Abstract

Naive pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) are counterparts of early epiblast in the mammalian embryo. Mouse and human naive PSCs differ in self-renewal requirements and extraembryonic lineage potency. Here, we investigated the generation of chimpanzee naive PSCs. Colonies generated by resetting or reprogramming failed to propagate. We discovered that self-renewal is enabled by inhibition of Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2). Expanded cells show global transcriptome proximity to human naive PSCs and embryo pre-implantation epiblast, with shared expression of a subset of pluripotency transcription factors. Chimpanzee naive PSCs can transition to multilineage competence or can differentiate into trophectoderm and hypoblast, forming tri-lineage blastoids. They thus provide a higher primate comparative model for studying pluripotency and early embryogenesis. Genetic deletions confirm that PRC2 mediates growth arrest. Further, inhibition of PRC2 overcomes a roadblock to feeder-free propagation of human naive PSCs. Therefore, excess deposition of chromatin modification H3K27me3 is an unexpected barrier to naive PSC self-renewal.

Publication status

published

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Volume

32 (4)

Pages / Article No.

627 - 63900000000

Publisher

Cell Press

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Subject

epiblast; higher primate; pluripotent stem cells; self-renewal; Polycomb; naive pluripotency; stem cell-based embryo model; mammalian early embryo; single-cell transcriptomics; developmental drift

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