Differentiation of the pluripotent stem cells of the mammalian embryo: the emergence of the Epiblast

Description

Abstract Our goal is to decipher the mechanisms of cell differentiation in the preimplantation mouse embryo. We are focusing on Primitive Endoderm versus Epiblast specification during blastocyst development and in the past years we have shown the interplay between different transcription factors such as Nanog for the Epiblast and Gata6, Sox17, Gata4 for the Primitive Endoderm. These findings have an important impact in stem cell biology, as embryonic stem cells (ES) are derived from blastocysts.

I will present our latest results that reveal a stochastic mechanism to differentiate Epiblast cells.

Allègre N*, Chauveau S*, Dennis C, Renaud Y, Meistermann D, Valverde Estrella L, Pouchin P, Cohen-Tannoudji M, David L and Chazaud C (2022). NANOG initiates epiblast fate through the coordination of pluripotency genes expression. Nature Communications 13, 3550 -.*equal contribution

Azami T*, Bassalert C*, Allègre N, Valverde Estrella L, Pouchin P, Ema M and Chazaud C (2019). Regulation of ERK signalling pathway in the developing mouse blastocyst. Development 146: dev177139. *equal contribution

Tosenberger A, Gonze D, Bessonnard S, Cohen-Tannoudji M, Chazaud C and Dupont G (2017). A multiscale model of early cell lineage specification including cell division. Nature Partner Journal Systems Biology and Applications 3:16. doi: 10.1038/s41540-017-0017-0