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Related Concept Videos

Embryonic Stem Cells00:58

Embryonic Stem Cells

Embryonic stem (ES) cells are undifferentiated pluripotent cells, meaning they can produce any cell type in the body. This gives them tremendous potential in science and medicine since they can generate specific cell types for use in research or to replace body cells lost due to damage or disease.
Mesenchymal Stem Cells01:19

Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are adult stem cells that can differentiate into most connective tissue cell types, except for hematopoietic cells, depending upon the source of MSCs. For example, bone-marrow-derived MSCs (BM-MSCs) can differentiate into osteocytes, hepatocytes, and pancreatic and neuronal cells. MSCs can be isolated from various sources such as bone marrow, placenta, adipose tissue, teeth, and Wharton’s jelly, a gelatinous substance in the umbilical cord. The ease of their access...
Embryonic Stem Cells00:57

Embryonic Stem Cells

Embryonic stem (ES) cells were first discovered in mice in 1981 by Martin Evans. In 1998, James Thomson identified a method to isolate embryonic stem cells from humans. Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are obtained from 3-5 day old embryos that remain unused after an in vitro fertilization procedure.
ES cells are grown in a culture medium where they can divide indefinitely, creating ES cell lines. Under certain conditions, ES cells can differentiate, either spontaneously into a variety of...
Maintenance of the ES Cell State01:14

Maintenance of the ES Cell State

The cells of the blastocyst inner cell mass only remain pluripotent for a short time. This state of pluripotency and self-renewal can be maintained in embryonic stem (ES) cell culture by adding specific chemicals or growth factors to ensure the cells can continue dividing and later differentiate into different cell types. In some cases, the cells are grown on a feeder layer of differentiated cells, which provides the growth factors and extracellular matrix components necessary for stem cell...

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Breaking the link between morphology and potency for mESCs.

Yixin Fan1,2,3, Xiaomin Wang4, Ziwei Zhai4,5

  • 1Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510530, China.

Cell & Bioscience
|October 24, 2025
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

The domed shape of mouse stem cells is not essential for their pluripotency. Researchers found that altering cell structure did not affect the cells' ability to differentiate, challenging long-held beliefs in stem cell biology.

Keywords:
MorphologyMouse embryonic stem cellNon-muscle myosin IIAPluripotency

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Area of Science:

  • Stem Cell Biology
  • Developmental Biology
  • Cell Morphology

Background:

  • A common belief in stem cell biology links domed colony morphology to naïve pluripotency in mouse and human pluripotent stem cells.
  • This structure-function relationship aids in identifying naïve pluripotent cells but lacks a clear molecular explanation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the molecular basis of the link between domed morphology and naïve pluripotency in mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs).
  • To determine if domed morphology is a prerequisite for maintaining naïve pluripotency and differentiation potential.

Main Methods:

  • Generated stable mESC lines with knocked-out Myh9 gene, encoding non-muscle myosin heavy chain IIA, to eliminate domed morphology.
  • Utilized kinase inhibitors targeting the myosin pathway to modulate cell morphology in wild-type mESCs.

Main Results:

  • mESC lines lacking Myh9 exhibited altered morphology but retained the capacity for three germ layer differentiation.
  • These modified mESCs were capable of forming chimeric mice, indicating maintained pluripotency.
  • Pharmacological inhibition of myosin pathway kinases mimicked the knockout phenotype in wild-type mESCs.

Conclusions:

  • Domed morphology and pluripotency can be uncoupled in mouse embryonic stem cells.
  • The study suggests that a domed structure is not essential for the acquisition or maintenance of naïve pluripotency.