Research
In 2012, we reported that the generation of androgenetic haploid embryonic stem cells (AG-haESCs) that can support full-term embryonic development upon injection into MII oocytes, leading to the generation of semi-cloned (SC) mice (Yang et al., Cell, 2012). However, one major drawback of this study is the frequently observed aberrant development of AG-haESC-derived embryos and the very low birth rate of healthy SC mice (around 2% of total SC embryos); this greatly restricts the applications of AG-haESCs. In 2015, we showed that AG-haESCs carrying deletions in the DMRs (differentially DNA methylated regions) controlling two paternally repressed imprinted genes, H19 and Gtl2, designated as DKO-AG-haESCs or ‘artificial spermatids’, can efficiently support the generation of SC pups at a rate of 20% (Zhong et al., Cell Stem Cell, 2015). Recently, through combining DKO-AG-haESCs and CRISPR-Cas9-mediated base editor system, we showed that mice with different base mutations can be generated in one step, enabling identification of critical amino acids of DND1 for primordial germ cell (PGC) development (Li et al., Nature Cell Biology, 2018).
Currently, we focus on the development of primordial germ cells, generation of disease models and large-scale tagging proteins in mice through ‘artificial spermatid’-mediated semi-cloned technology.
Artificial Sperm and its Application
Main pourpose of ...
Primordial Germ Cells Development
Main pourpose of ...
Embryonic Development
Main pourpose of ...