Molecular Criteria for Defining the Naive Human Pluripotent State

Recent studies have aimed to convert cultured human pluripotent cells to a naive state, but it remains unclear to what extent the resulting cells recapitulate in vivo naive pluripotency. Here we propose a set of molecular criteria for evaluating the naive human pluripotent state by comparing it to the human embryo. We show that transcription of transposable elements provides a sensitive measure of the concordance between pluripotent stem cells and early human development. We also show that induction of the naive state is accompanied by genome-wide DNA hypomethylation, which is reversible except at imprinted genes, and that the X chromosome status resembles that of the human preimplantation embryo. However, we…

• NS
  National Science Foundation
• SF
  Simons Foundation
• GA
  Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

  Award: GBMF3034
• AP
  Association pour la Recherche sur le Cancer
• SN
  Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
• UD
  Université de Lausanne
• NI
  National Institutes of Health
• DO
  Division of Materials Research