Work

High-efficiency generation of blastoids with gastrulation potential through Gata4-induced PrE specification in mESCs

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Blastoids are regarded as promising models for further in vivo embryonic development 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 . Current blastoid protocols, which are based on either co-culturing embryonic stem cells/trophoblast stem cells (ESCs/TSCs) 2 , 3 or utilizing totipotency-like cells 1 , 5 , 6 , rely critically on exogenous factors such as FGF4, BMP4 and CHIR99021 1 , 2 , 3 , 5 , 6 to drive lineage specification and enhance blastoid formation. However, these blastoids harbor transcriptionally ambiguous cell populations and are insufficient for primitive endoderm (PrE) specification, and mostly arrest at pre-gastrulation stages 2 , 3 , 5 , 6 , 7 .

Source: Cell Discovery

DOI: 10.1038/s41421-025-00849-2