Generation of Chimeras from Porcine Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells.

Pig induced pluripotent stem cells (piPSCs) offer a great opportunity and a number of advantages in the generation of transgenic animals. These immortalized cells can undergo multiple rounds of genetic modifications (e.g.

Porcine induced pluripotent stem cells produce chimeric offspring.

Ethical and moral issues rule out the use of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in chimera studies that would determine the full extent of their reprogrammed state, instead relying on less rigorous assays such as teratoma formation and differentiated cell types. To date, only mouse iPSC lines are known to be truly pluripotent. However, initial mouse iPSC lines failed to form chimeric offspring, but did generate teratomas and differentiated embryoid bodies, and thus these specific iPSC lines were not completely reprogrammed or truly pluripotent.