Molecular characterization of pluripotency in embryos and embryonic stem cells
Year: 2010
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Pluripotent cells are unique due to their developmental potential and the possibility to study them is thekey step to understand human development. These cells are characterized by their ability to originateall the cellular lineages within an adult organism. Within embryonic milieu, pluripotent cells representa dynamic fraction of the total cell number. Moreover, their physiological existence is constrained toearly stages of embryonic development. In vitro culture of the different types of mammalian pluripotentcells, and singularly embryonic stem cells (ESC), enables the characterization of the pluripotent state.In the four articles included in this thesis we have addressed two different aspects of the molecularcharacterization of mammalian pluripotent cells. First, we investigated the establishment of thetrophectoderm and the inner cell mass in the embryo measuring transcript abundance and proteinpresence of the transcription factors known to play a role in the earliest cellular differentiation process.In addition we have evaluated of genomic stability of human ESC lines during long-term culture,observing the accumulation of sukaryotypic aberrations such as loss of heterozygosity that affect locicomprising genes involved in genomic stability maintenance. We also checked the genomic status oftwo human ESC lines derived from embryos that had been diagnosed as abnormal after geneticpreimplantation diagnosis (PGD). The molecular analysis of these cells ruled out the hypothesizedself-correction of the aneuploidies between the PGD and the establishment of the cell lines.
Author: Josep Pareja Gómez
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2261502434