Lineage specification and pluripotency revealed by transcriptome analysis from oocyte to blastocyst in pig

Abstract

The inner cell mass (ICM) in blastocyst is the origin of all somatic and germ cells in mammals and pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) in vitro. As the conserved principles between pig and human, here we performed comprehensive single-cell RNA-seq for porcine early embryos from oocyte to early blastocyst (EB). We show the specification of the ICM and trophectoderm in morula and the molecular signature of the precursors. We demonstrate the existence of naïve pluripotency signature in morula and ICM of EB, and the specific pluripotent genes and the activity of signalling pathways highlight the characteristics of the naïve pluripotency. We observe the absence of dosage compensation with respect to X-chromosome (XC) in morula, and incomplete dosage compensation in the EB. However, the dynamics of dosage compensation may be independent of the expression of XIST induced XC inactivation. Our study describes molecular landmarks of embryogenesis in pig that will provide a better strategy for derivation of porcine PSCs and improve research in regenerative medicine.