FAS-based cell depletion facilitates the selective isolation of mouse induced pluripotent stem cells.

Cellular reprogramming of somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) opens up new avenues for basic research and regenerative medicine. However, the low efficiency of the procedure remains a major limitation. To identify iPSC, many studies to date relied on the activation of pluripotency-associated transcription factors.

Optimal reprogramming factor stoichiometry increases colony numbers and affects molecular characteristics of murine induced pluripotent stem cells.

Somatic cells can be reprogrammed toward pluripotency by overexpression of a set of transcription factors, yielding induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) with features similar to embryonic stem cells. Little is known to date about stoichiometric requirements of the individual reprogramming factors (RFs) for efficient reprogramming and especially about whether stoichiometry also influences the quality of derived iPSCs. To address this important issue, we chose bicistronic lentiviral vectors coexpressing fluorescent reporters (eGFP, dTomato, Cerulean, or Venus) along with the canonical RFs to transduce a bulk of murine embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs).

Lentiviral vector design and imaging approaches to visualize the early stages of cellular reprogramming.

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can be derived from somatic cells by gene transfer of reprogramming transcription factors. Expression levels of these factors strongly influence the overall efficacy to form iPSC colonies, but additional contribution of stochastic cell-intrinsic factors has been proposed. Here, we present engineered color-coded lentiviral vectors in which codon-optimized reprogramming factors are co-expressed by a strong retroviral promoter that is rapidly silenced in iPSC, and imaged the conversion of fibroblasts to iPSC.

Protein transduction from retroviral Gag precursors.

Retroviral particles assemble a few thousand units of the Gag polyproteins. Proteolytic cleavage mediated by the retroviral protease forms the bioactive retroviral protein subunits before cell entry. We hypothesized that this process could be exploited for targeted, transient, and dose-controlled transduction of nonretroviral proteins into cultured cells.

Preparation of bioactive soluble human leukemia inhibitory factor from recombinant Escherichia coli using thioredoxin as fusion partner.

Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is a polyfunctional cytokine with numerous regulatory effects in vivo and in vitro. In stem cell cultures it is the essential media supplement for the maintenance of pluripotency of embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells. With regard to large scale cultures of these cells, LIF is needed in high quality and quantity and represents the major cost determining factor (90%) of the culture media.