Eight transcription factors promote stem cells to become "egg-like cells"

, Dec. 16 (Reporter Zhang Mengran) Can humans "make" eggs in the laboratory? According to a new study of stem cells published in the British journal Nature on the 16th, a team of Japanese scientists has demonstrated that a group of eight transcription factors can convert mouse stem cells into egg-like cells in the laboratory. These findings further deepen human understanding of egg development, in terms of application.
development of ovarian cells (immature egg cells) is divided into several stages, but the gene regulatory network involved in this process is not clear.
The 11 mice they bred did not come from a combination of sperm and eggs, and their matrilineal lineage originated from reprogrammed skin cells, said Lin Keyan, a prominent reproductive biologist at Kyusju University in Japan, in a 2016 paper published in the journal Nature. The success of this experiment has shocked the reproductive science community because it means that one day humans will be able to conceive a new life using only blood and skin cells, but at this stage the idea is still a long way off because of the technical and ethical challenges.
, Lin and colleagues used embryonic stem cells from mice to identify the eight transcription factors needed to trigger ovarian cell growth (proteins that regulate gene expression). The team then induced the eight transcription factors to be expressed in erythnic stem cells in mice to test whether they were sufficient to drive ovarian cell growth.
study found that this led to the production of "egg-like cells", which they named "directly induced ovarian cell-like cells." Although these cells are not subtracted, they are fertilized and can divide to the 8 cell stages of embryonic development. However, further development beyond this point in time will be affected.
researchers believe that their "egg-like cells" can provide a potential source of ovarian cytocytocytes, which is valuable in assisted reproductive technology.