title: FGF treatment of host embryos injected with ES cells increases rates of chimaerism.
abstract: In spite of the emergence of genome editing tools, ES cell mediated transgenesis remains the most controllable way of creating genetically modified animals. Although tetraploid (4N) complementation of 4N host embryos and ES cells, is the only method guaranteeing that offspring are entirely ES cell derived, this technique is challenging, not always successful and difficult to implement in some laboratory settings. The current study shows that pretreatment of host blastocysts with FGF4 prior to ES cell injection can provide an alternative method for the generation of animals displaying high rates of chimaerism. Chimaerism assessment in E11 fetuses and born pups shows that a large percentage of resulting conceptuses show a high ES cell contribution from implantation onwards and that developing pups do not necessitate c-section for delivery.
authors.affiliation: Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. c.dupont@erasmusmc.nl.
authors.forename: Cathérine
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6228-1202
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dupont
authors.affiliation: Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Friedemann
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Loos
authors.affiliation: Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kong-A-San
authors.affiliation: Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. j.gribnau@erasmusmc.nl.
authors.forename: Joost
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gribnau
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000378:metabolism; D002678:Chimera / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D019976:Cloning, Organism; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000235:genetics*; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells; D051519:Fibroblast Growth Factor 4 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D000072669:Gene Editing / Q000379:methods; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D051379:Mice
chemical_list: C496446:Fgf4 protein, mouse; D051519:Fibroblast Growth Factor 4
keywords: Blastocyst injection; Chimaera; ES cell; FGF4; Tetraploid complementation; Transgenesis