Pluripotent cells in farm animals: state of the art and future perspectives

Abstract

Pluripotent cells, such as embryonic stem (ES) cells, embryonic germ cells and embryonic carcinoma cells are a unique type of cell because they remain undifferentiated indefinitely in in vitro culture, show self-renewal and possess the ability to differentiate into derivatives of the three germ layers. These capabilities make them a unique in vitro model for studying development, differentiation and for targeted modification of the genome. True pluripotent ESCs have only been described in the laboratory mouse and rat. However, rodent physiology and anatomy differ substantially from that of humans, detracting from the value of the rodent model for studies of human diseases and the development of cellular therapies in regenerative medicine. Recently, progress in the isolation of pluripotent cells in farm animals has been made and new technologies for reprogramming of somatic cells into a pluripotent state have been developed. Prior to clinical application of therapeutic cells differentiated from pluripotent stem cells in human patients, their survival and the absence of tumourigenic potential must be assessed in suitable preclinical large animal models. The establishment of pluripotent cell lines in farm animals may provide new opportunities for the production of transgenic animals, would facilitate development and validation of large animal models for evaluating ESC-based therapies and would thus contribute to the improvement of human and animal health. This review summarises the recent progress in the derivation of pluripotent and reprogrammed cells from farm animals. We refer to our recent review on this area, to which this article is complementary.

Pluripotent stem cells and livestock genetic engineering

“…Despite intensive efforts, establishment of robust bona fide ESCs in livestock species has been unsuccessful (Reviewed by Blomberg and Telugu 2012; Gandolfi 2012; Goncalves 2014; Koh and Piedrahita 2014; Kumar et al 2015; Malaver-Ortega et al 2012; Nowak-Imialek and Niemann 2012; Park and Telugu 2013; Telugu et al 2010b). In general, embryo-isolated cells have not demonstrated robust self-renewal and have typically failed to show in vivo pluripotency by teratoma formation assay.…”

5. Themenbereich Stammzellen: Aktuelle Entwicklungen der Stammzellforschung in Deutschland

“…Sie hat zu vielen neuen Einsichten in die molekularen Regelkreise pluripotenter und differenzierter Zellen geführt (Buganim et al, 2013). Der iPS-Ansatz scheint universell auf alle Zelltypen anwendbar zu sein und funktioniert bei vielen Spezies (Nowak-Imialek/Niemann, 2013 (Kim et al, 2009). Oct4 wird daher als "expressway" zur Reprogrammierung beschrieben (Sterneckert et al, 2012).…”

Assessing Tn5 and Sleeping Beauty for transpositional transgenesis by cytoplasmic injection into bovine and ovine zygotes

“…However, their application to domestic species requires proper pronuclei visualization and species-specific ES cells maintenance, respectively, which up to date are not efficiently achieved in livestock [12,13]. For these reasons, somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) soon turned into the technique of choice for the production of transgenic domestic species, and it has allowed the production of transgenic cattle [4;14], sheep [3] and pigs [15].…”