Retinoic acid combined with spermatogonial stem cell conditions facilitate the generation of mouse germ-like cells.
Spermatogenic lineage has been directly generated in spermatogonial stem cell (SSC) conditions from human pluripotent stem cells (PSCs). However, it remains unknown whether mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) can directly differentiate into advanced male germ cell lineage in the same conditions. Here, we showed rather low efficiency of germ-like cell generation from mouse ESCs in SSC conditions. Interestingly, addition of retinoic acid (RA) into SSC conditions enabled efficient differentiation of mouse ESCs into germ-like cells, as shown by the activation of spermatogenesis-associated genes such asMvh,Dazl,Prdm14,Stella,Scp1,Scp3,Stra8andRec8In contrast, for cells cultured in control medium, the activation of the above genes barely occurred. In addition, RA with SSC conditions yielded colonies of Acrosin-expressing cells and the positive ratio reached a peak at day 6. Our work thus establishes a simple and cost-efficient approach for male germ like cell differentiation from mouse PSCs and may propose a useful strategy for studying spermatogenesisin vitro.
BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China.
Guoyi
G
Dong
BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China.|Department of Regenerative Medicine, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200092, China.|Shenzhen Engineering Laboratory for Innovative Molecular Diagnostics, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China.
Zhouchun
Z
Shang
BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China.|Shenzhen Engineering Laboratory for Innovative Molecular Diagnostics, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China.
Longqi
L
Liu
BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China.|Shenzhen Engineering Laboratory for Innovative Molecular Diagnostics, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China.
Chuanyu
C
Liu
BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China.
Yuping
Y
Ge
BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China.|Shenzhen Engineering Laboratory for Innovative Molecular Diagnostics, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China.
Quanlei
Q
Wang
BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China.|Shenzhen Engineering Laboratory for Innovative Molecular Diagnostics, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China.
Liang
L
Wu
BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China.|Section of Molecular Disease Biology, Department of Veterinary Disease Biology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Fang
F
Chen
BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China.
Baolin
B
Li
BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China.
Xin
X
Liu
BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China.
Xun
X
Xu
BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China.|James D. Watson Institute of Genome Sciences, Hangzhou, China.
Huanming
H
Yang
BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China jianghui@genomics.cn duyt@genomics.cn.
Yutao
Y
Du
BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China jianghui@genomics.cn duyt@genomics.cn.
Hui
H
Jiang
D000328:Adult; D000072956:Adult Germline Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005854:Germ Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D013091:Spermatogenesis / Q000502:physiology; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D014212:Tretinoin / Q000494:pharmacology*
D014212:Tretinoin
Differentiation; Germ-like cells; Retinoic acid; Spermatogonial stem cell conditions