THE BOVINE INDUCED PLURIPOTENT STEM CELLS (BIPSCS) HOLD GREAT POTENTIAL FOR IMPROVING OUR BASIC UNDERSTANDING OF CATTLE EMBRYONIC DEVELOPMENT AND DIFFERENTIATION, AS WELL AS ADVANCING THE BIOTECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENTFOR ANIMAL REPRODUCTION. HOWEVER, IT HAS BEEN VERY CHALLENGING TO GENERATE COMPLETELY REPROGRAMMED BIPSCS WITH PLURIPOTENCY RESEMBLING THE WELL-ESTABLISHED PRIMED-STATE PLURIPOTENT HUMAN OR NAÏVE-STATE PLURIPOTENT MOUSE IPSCS. WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT BONA FIDE BIPSCS CAN BE GENERATED THROUGH USING ADVANCED REPROGRAMMING TECHNOLOGIES AS WELL AS BY REMOVING KEY CHROMATIN BARRIERS. THE OVERALL OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO GENERATE COMPLETELY REPROGRAMMED PLURIPOTENT BIPSCS. IN THIS PROJECT, WE WILL MODIFY EPIGENETIC MARKERS ANDUTILIZE ENGINEERED, HIGHLY EFFICIENT REPROGRAMMING FACTORS AND BOVINE-SPECIFIC FLUORESCENT REPORTERS ESTABLISHED BY US TO GENERATE COMPLETELY REPROGRAMMED BIPSCS RESEMBLING PRIMED-STATE PLURIPOTENT HUMAN IPSCS (AIM1) AS WELL AS NAÏVE-STATE PLURIPOTENT MOUSE IPSCS BY FURTHER MODULATING NAÏVE-SPECIFIC CELLULAR SIGNALS (AIM2). THE COMPLETELY REPROGRAMMED BIPSCS WILL FUNCTION AS VERSATILE TOOL TO FACILITATE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF BOVINE EMBRYONIC DEVELOPMENT, AND STIMULATE BIOTECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS TO IMPROVE CATTLE REPRODUCTION AND BEEF/DAIRY PRODUCTION AND QUALITY. THIS HAS DIRECT RELEVANCE TO THE NIFA FOUNDATIONAL PROGRAM ANIMAL REPRODUCTION AREA PRIORITY (A1211).

University Of Connecticut, Storrs CT

Investigators