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Updated: Feb 22, 2026

A Simple Method to Identify Kinases That Regulate Embryonic Stem Cell Pluripotency by High-throughput Inhibitor Screening
Published on: May 12, 2017
Suppression of ERK signalling abolishes primitive endoderm formation but does not promote pluripotency in rabbit
Anna Piliszek1, Zofia E Madeja2, Berenika Plusa3
1Department of Experimental Embryology, Institute of Genetics and Animal Breeding, Polish Academy of Sciences, Postępu 36a, 05-552 Jastrzębiec, Poland a.piliszek@ighz.pl berenika.plusa@manchester.ac.uk.
Abstract:
Formation of epiblast (EPI) - the founder line of all embryonic lineages - and extra-embryonic supportive tissues is one of the key events in mammalian development. The prevailing model of early mammalian development is based almost exclusively on the mouse. Here, we provide a comprehensive, stage-by-stage analysis of EPI and extra-embryonic primitive endoderm (PrE) formation during preimplantation development of the rabbit. Although we observed that rabbit embryos have several features in common with mouse embryos, including a stage-related initiation of lineage specification, our results demonstrate the existence of some key differences in lineage specification among mammals. Contrary to the current view, our data suggest that reciprocal repression of GATA6 and NANOG is not fundamental for the initial stages of PrE versus EPI specification in mammals. Furthermore, our results provide insight into the observed discrepancies relating to the role of FGF/ERK signalling in PrE versus EPI specification between mouse and other mammals.
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