A groundbreaking study led by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's professors Yossi Buganim and Tommy Kaplan has uncovered 14,000 unique DNA sites forming elementary blueprints for embryogenesis.
Elementary Blueprint of Embryogenesis
Japanese scientists inserted embryonic genes into skin cells, successfully reprogramming the skin cells to act like embryonic stem cells in 2006. The artificial embryonic stem cells are identical to natural stem cells that develop during the earliest stages of embryonic development and are responsible for developing the fetus' cells. But, they were unable to create extra-embryonic tissues like the placenta.
Professor Buganim and his team, back in 2015, first discovered how to create artificial placental stem cells produced from skin cells. This step allowed scientists to develop the two early types of stem cells in embryonic development, which happens as soon as sperm cells fertilize the egg cells.
In the recent study published in Nature Communications, titled "Comparative parallel multi-omics analysis during the induction of pluripotent and trophectoderm states." the team examined the process that occurs while skin cells transform themselves into embryonic or placental stem cells.
Professor Buganim explains that the researchers analyzed the changes in the skin cells while changing their identity to become one of the two early types of stem cells. They looked at changes in the skin cell's gene expression in both the activity and accessibility of the DNA within the nucleus of the changing skin cell. These are critical when converting skin cells into artificial stem cells.
Researchers found that the changes needed to take place in skin cells were entirely different at each level, despite the fact that both started as skin cells.
Transformation of Skin Cells to Artificial Stem Cells
When skin cells transform into man-made embryonic stem cells, the parts of their DNA responsible for creating the brain, heart, and liver reorganize and prepare to differentiate. On the other hand, when researchers transform the same cells into artificial placental stem cells, the DNA sites reorganize to allow the changing cell to implant itself and attract blood vessels. This naturally occurring phenomenon enables the embryo to implant in the uterus.
The most groundbreaking discovery came when the team compared both processes and analyzed a chemical called methyl, which interacts with specific DNA areas and is responsible for silencing gene expression. Buganim explains that the team discovered that artificial placenta stem cells had about 14,000 DNA sites with methyl but could not be seen in artificial embryonic stem cells.
Upon analyzing the significance of the DNA sites, experts found that they were responsible for the creation of organs and cells during embryogenesis, the development of the embryo, and the formation of the brain, heart, liver, kidneys, skeleton, spinal cord, and connective tissues.
Moving forward, the significant discovery has the potential to help explain the embryonic defense system, which prevents early placental cells from developing into embryonic cells. Buganim says that since placental cells are vulnerable to damage and infection, the body's natural defense prevents placental cells from migrating to the developing embryo, reports ScienceDaily.
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