For the promise of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to be realized, it is necessary to ask if and how efficiently they may be differentiated to functional cells of various lineages. Here, we have directly compared the neural-differentiation capacity of human iPSCs and embryonic stem cells (ESCs). We have shown that human iPSCs use the same transcriptional network to generate neuroepithelia and functionally appropriate neuronal types over the same developmental time course as hESCs in response to the same set of morphogens; however, they do it with significantly reduced efficiency and increased variability. These results were consistent across iPSC lines and independent of the set of reprogramming transgenes used to derive iPSCs as well as the presence or absence of reprogramming transgenes in iPSCs. These findings, which show a need for improving differentiation potency of iPSCs, suggest the possibility of employing human iPSCs in pathological studies, therapeutic screening, and autologous cell transplantation.

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) offer a platform to bridge what we have learned from animal studies to human biology. Using oligodendrocyte differentiation as a model system, we show that sonic hedgehog (SHH)-dependent sequential activation of the transcription factors OLIG2, NKX2.2 and SOX10 is required for sequential specification of ventral spinal OLIG2-expressing progenitors, pre-oligodendrocyte precursor cells (pre-OPCs) and OPCs from hESC-derived neuroepithelia, indicating that a conserved transcriptional network underlies OPC specification in human as in other vertebrates. However, the transition from preOPCs to OPCs is protracted. FGF2, which promotes mouse OPC generation, inhibits the transition of pre-OPCs to OPCs by repressing SHH-dependent co-expression of OLIG2 and NKX2.2. Thus, despite the conservation of a similar transcriptional network across vertebrates, human stem/progenitor cells may respond differently to those of other vertebrates to certain extrinsic factors.