University of Nottingham
（UK）

Masaki Kinoshita

Formative stem (FS) cells were established most recently from mouse embryos. It has unique features of pluripotency in early post-implantation embryos such as blastocyst chimaera competency and direct germ cell differentiation ability. Formative phase is important for earlier naïve blastocyst cells to respond to the differentiation signals in later primed gastrulation. In other words, the genes essential for this state play important roles for embryo to gastrulate. In humans, about 30% of miscarriage occurs at this stage, so elucidating gene regulatory networks helps understanding genetics of such early pregnancy loss. We previously identified Otx2 as an essential gene for formative state maintenance; however, the entire gene regulatory network is still largely unknown. In this project, we will address essential genes for the maintenance of formative pluripotency using genome-wide CRISPR-based screening method.