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EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS

The Role of Exogenous Fibroblast Growth Factor-2 on the Reprogramming of Primordial Germ Cells into Pluripotent Stem Cells

Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research United Kingdom Gurdon Institute of Cancer and Developmental Biology, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Key Words. Reprogramming • Pluripotency • Fibroblast growth factors • Primordial germ cells • Embryonic germ cells • Chimera • Mouse

Correspondence: Anne McLaren, D.Phil., The Wellcome Trust/CR UK Gurdon Institute of Cancer and Developmental Biology, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge, CB2 1QN, U.K. Telephone: +44-1223-331164; Fax: +44-1223-334089; e-mail: A.McLaren{at}gurdon.cam.ac.uk

Received August 30, 2005; accepted for publication March 15, 2006.

The germ cell lineage is a specified cell population that passes through a series of differentiation steps before giving rise, eventually, to either eggs or sperm. We have investigated the manner in which primordial germ cells (PGCs) are reprogrammed in vitro to form pluripotent stem cells in response to exogenous fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2). The response is dependent on time of exposure and concentration of FGF-2. PGCs isolated in culture show a motile phenotype and lose any expression of a characteristic germ cell marker, mouse vasa homolog. Subsequently, some but not all of the cells show further changes of phenotype, accompanied by changes in expression of endogenous FGF-2 and up-regulation of its receptor, fibroblast growth factor receptor-3, in the nucleus. We propose that it is from this reprogrammed component of the now heterogeneous PGC population that pluripotent stem cells arise.

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