School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham

Masaki Kinoshita

Formative state of pluripotency represents early post-implantation stage cells in embryos, and this state plays important roles to initiate gastrulation. In humans, about 30% of miscarriage occurs around this stage, so elucidating gene regulatory networks (GRN) helps understanding of such early pregnancy loss. We recently performed genome wide gene KO screening using mFS cells and identified 1,971 genes, which are essential for the mFS cell maintenance. We compared the gene list with naïve ES cell and primed EpiSCs studies and identified 385 formative specific genes. In this project, we will identify human specific genes required in the maintenance of hFS cells and compare them with mouse formative GRN to identify conserved or human specific mechanisms of pluripotency.