Embryonic stem cells articles within Nature

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  • Letter |

    Regeneration of the heart muscle after myocardial infarction with cardiomyocytes derived from human embryonic stem cells is demonstrated in non-human primates, with the grafts showing evidence of electromechanical coupling, although they were also associated with non-fatal arrhythmias.

    • James J. H. Chong
    • , Xiulan Yang
    •  & Charles E. Murry

  • Letter |

    It is known that human embryonic stem (ES) cells are more similar to mouse primed epiblast stem cells than to naive mouse ES cells; here culture conditions are determined that allow human ES and induced pluripotent stem cells to acquire a pluripotent state that retains growth characteristics highly similar to mouse naive ES cells, and competence in generating cross-species human-mouse embryonic chimaerism.

    • Ohad Gafni
    • , Leehee Weinberger
    •  & Jacob H. Hanna

  • Article |

    This study shows that the combination of naive pluripotency growth conditions, Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and Myc (OSKM) overexpression, and depleting the Mbd3/NuRD co-repressor results in deterministic and synchronized reprogramming to pluripotency.

    • Yoach Rais
    • , Asaf Zviran
    •  & Jacob H. Hanna

  • Letter |

    A new approach has been developed in order to achieve the stepwise differentiation of inner ear sensory epithelia from mouse embryonic stem cells in a three-dimensional culture: this process, which mimics normal development and produces cells that have functional characteristics of mechanosensitive hair cells, is hoped to provide further insights into inner ear development and disorder.

    • Karl R. Koehler
    • , Andrew M. Mikosz
    •  & Eri Hashino

  • Article |

    An in vivo genetic approach to generate mosaic expression of Myc in the mouse epiblast reveals evidence of cell competition, a tissue homeostasis mechanism first described in Drosophila by which viable but suboptimal cells are eliminated from metazoan tissues; during normal development Myc expression levels in the epiblast are heterogeneous, and endogenous cell competition refines the epiblast cell population through the apoptotic elimination of cells with low relative Myc levels.

    • Cristina Clavería
    • , Giovanna Giovinazzo
    •  & Miguel Torres

  • Letter |

    Vitamin C is a direct regulator of Tet enzyme activity and DNA methylation fidelity in mouse ES cells; addition of vitamin C promotes Tet activity, increases 5-hydroxymethlycytosine (5hmC) and DNA demethylation of many gene promoters, upregulates demethylated germline genes, and induces a state that more closely approximates that of the inner cell mass of the blastocyst.

    • Kathryn Blaschke
    • , Kevin T. Ebata
    •  & Miguel Ramalho-Santos

  • Letter |

    This study shows that Dis3l2 is the 3′–5′ exonuclease that mediates the degradation of uridylated precursor let-7 microRNA; this is the first physiological RNA substrate identified for this new exonuclease, which causes the Perlman syndrome of fetal overgrowth and Wilms’ tumour susceptibility when mutated.

    • Hao-Ming Chang
    • , Robinson Triboulet
    •  & Richard I. Gregory

  • News & Views |

    Researchers have coaxed cultured embryonic stem cells to develop into eggs that then give rise to normal offspring. The discovery should help to decode the molecular basis of gamete formation and might lead to treatments for infertility.

    • Sihem Cheloufi
    •  & Konrad Hochedlinger

  • Letter |

    Mouse androgenetic haploid embryonic stem cell lines can be established by transferring sperm into an enucleated oocyte; the cells maintain haploidy and stable growth over 30 passages, express pluripotent markers, are able to differentiate into all three germ layers, contribute to germlines of chimaeras when injected into blastocysts and can produce fertile progeny that carry genetic modifications to the next generation.

    • Wei Li
    • , Ling Shuai
    •  & Qi Zhou

  • Letter |

    Two types of human ES-cell-derived otic progenitors are shown to have the ability to differentiate in vitro into hair-cell-like cells and auditory neurons, and to engraft, differentiate and improve auditory-evoked response thresholds when transplanted into an auditory neuropathy model; this indicates that it may be possible to use cell-based therapeutic strategies to recover damaged sensory circuitry in deafness.

    • Wei Chen
    • , Nopporn Jongkamonwiwat
    •  & Marcelo N. Rivolta

  • Letter |

    Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are shown to have high 26S/30S proteasome activity owing to increased expression of the 19S proteasome subunit PSMD11; FOXO4 regulates proteasome activity in hESCs by modulating PSMD11 expression, and the high proteasome activity decreases after induced differentiation.

    • David Vilchez
    • , Leah Boyer
    •  & Andrew Dillin

  • News Feature |

    With his knack for knowing what stem cells want, Yoshiki Sasai has grown an eye and parts of a brain in a dish.

    • David Cyranoski

  • Letter |

    A guinea-pig model of cardiac injury is used to show that human embryonic stem-cell-derived cardiomyocyte grafts can electrically integrate into the injured heart, improving mechanical function and reducing spontaneous and induced ventricular tachycardia; this is a major step towards clinical adoption of cell replacement therapies for cardiovascular diseases using human cardiomyocytes.

    • Yuji Shiba
    • , Sarah Fernandes
    •  & Michael A. Laflamme

  • News & Views |

    It seems that embryonic stem cells regularly pass through a transient state during which they can generate all the cell types of an animal, including those of the placenta. See Article p.57

    • Azim Surani
    •  & Julia Tischler

  • Article |

    A rare cell subpopulation within mouse embryonic stem cell cultures is identified that exhibits properties of two-cell (2C) embryos; the interconversion of ES cells to 2C cells correlates with endogenous retroviral activity.

    • Todd S. Macfarlan
    • , Wesley D. Gifford
    •  & Samuel L. Pfaff

  • Article |

    The size of COPII vesicles is shown to be controlled by monoubiquitylation, with potential implications for cranio-lenticulo-sutural dysplasia and chylomicron retention disease.

    • Lingyan Jin
    • , Kanika Bajaj Pahuja
    •  & Michael Rape

  • Editorial |

    The European Court of Justice was wrong to weigh in on the definition of a human embryo.

  • News Feature |

    Oliver Brüstle fought for more than a decade to pursue and patent human embryonic stem-cell research in Germany. Now his efforts have backfired.

    • Alison Abbott

  • News & Views |

    It is difficult to recapitulate organ development in vitro, especially when interactions between tissues are essential. Nonetheless, researchers have now achieved this for the pituitary gland. See Article p.57

    • Karine Rizzoti
    •  & Robin Lovell-Badge

  • News |

    Neurons derived from human embryonic stem cells can control native neurons in mice.

    • Charlotte Schubert

  • News & Views |

    Human skin cells have been directly converted into neurons, an achievement that could lead to the cell-based treatment of neurodegenerative disorders. But the road ahead remains long and tortuous. See Letters p.220, p.224 & p.228

    • Michael Sendtner

  • News |

    US judge throws out case meant to halt federal funding, but research remains vulnerable.

    • Meredith Wadman

  • News & Views |

    Tet proteins mediate the hydroxymethylation of DNA. New work reveals their function in gene regulation and the extent of their activity throughout the genome of embryonic stem cells. See Article p.343 & Letters p.389, p.394 & p.398

    • Nathalie Véron
    •  & Antoine H. F. M. Peters

  • Article |

    Organogenesis relies on the orchestration of many cellular interactions to create the collective cell behaviours that progressively shape developing tissues. Using a three-dimensional embryonic stem cell culture system, this study successfully generated neural retinal tissues that formed a fully stratified neural retinal structure with all the major components located in their proper spatial location as seen during optic-cup development in vivo. This approach might have important implications for stem cell therapy for retinal repair.

    • Mototsugu Eiraku
    • , Nozomu Takata
    •  & Yoshiki Sasai

  • Letter |

    Identifying the genomic regulatory sequences, such as enhancers, that control early embryonic development remains a difficult challenge. Here, profiling of histone modifications and chromatin regulators in human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) reveals unique signatures that are used to identify over 2,000 putative enhancers. These enhancers are either active in the h ESCs or associated with early developmental genes.

    • Alvaro Rada-Iglesias
    • , Ruchi Bajpai
    •  & Joanna Wysocka

  • Letter |

    Reprogramming of X-chromosome inactivation during the acquisition of pluripotency is accompanied by repression of Xist, the trigger of X-inactivation, and by upregulation of its antisense counterpart, Tsix. In undifferentiated embryonic stem cells (ESCs), key transcription factors that support pluripotency repress Xist transcription. These authors show that upregulation of Tsix in ESCs depends on a different subset of pluripotency factors. Therefore, two distinct ESC-specific complexes couple reprogramming of X-inactivation to pluripotency.

    • Pablo Navarro
    • , Andrew Oldfield
    •  & Philip Avner

  • Letter |

    Two forms of X-chromosome inactivation ensure the selective silencing of female sex chromosomes in mouse embryos. Imprinted silencing begins with the detection of Xist RNA expression on the paternal X chromosome at about the four-cell stage of development. Later, a random form of inactivation silences either the paternal or the maternal X chromosome. Here it is shown that maternal deposits of the ubiquitin ligase Rnf12/RLIM are required for the imprinted form of X-chromosome inactivation.

    • JongDae Shin
    • , Michael Bossenz
    •  & Ingolf Bach

  • Letter |

    Realizing the full potential of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) in research and clinical applications requires a detailed understanding of the genetic network that governs their unique properties. A genome-wide RNA interference screen identifies a wealth of new regulators of self-renewal and pluripotency properties in hESCs. The transcription factor PRDM14, for example, is required for the maintenance of hESC identity and reprogramming of somatic cells to pluripotency.

    • Na-Yu Chia
    • , Yun-Shen Chan
    •  & Huck-Hui Ng

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