| description |
Despite intensive efforts, establishing porcine embryonic stem cells have been challenging. We recently derived mouse expanded potential stem cells (EPSCs) from individual blastomeres by inhibiting the activity of critical molecular pathways that predisposes lineage differentiation in the mouse preimplantation embryo. EPSCs had enriched molecular signatures of blastomeres and possessed the developmental potency to all embryonic and extraembryonic cell lineages. In this study, we report the derivation of porcine EPSC (pEPSC) lines either directly from preimplantation embryos or by reprogramming fetal fibroblasts. Under similar culture conditions, human ESCs and iPSCs can be converted, or somatic cells are directly reprogrammed, to EPSCs (hEPSCs) that display the molecular and functional attributes reminiscent of pEPSCs. Here, we performed ChIP-seq experiments of H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 to characterise the epigenetic signatures of the EPSCs. |