Bovine Formative Embryonic Stem Cell Plasticity in Embryonic and Extraembryonic Differentiation

Abstract Bovine embryonic stem cells (bESCs) can greatly enhance understanding of bovine embryonic development and applications for disease-resistance, biomedical and zoonotic pre-clinical models. However, formative bESCs with distinct morphology and complete differentiation capacity are still unreported. We document here the generation of bESCs which are pluripotent both in vitro and in vivo, and efficiently converted into neural progenitor cells (NPCs) and primordial germ cell-like cells (PGCLCs) by direct differentiation. These cells exhibited distinct metabolic features from human and mouse ESCs and early embryos. Formative bESCs contributed to a wide range of cell types within embryonic and extraembryonic tissues after aggregating with mouse and bovine embryos. The establishment of bovine formative ESCs with dual developmental plasticity represents a milestone for agricultural biotechnology and decoding the underlying mechanism of bona fide bovine pluripotency. Summary statement Generating bovine ESCs would greatly enhance understanding of bovine embryonic development and bioengineering of cattle for disease-resistance, biomedical and zoonotic pre-clinical models.