Transient DUX4 expression in human embryonic stem cells induces blastomere-like expression program that is marked by SLC34A2.

Embryonic genome activation (EGA) is critical for embryonic development. However, our understanding of the regulatory mechanisms of human EGA is still incomplete. Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are an established model for studying developmental processes, but they resemble epiblast and are sub-optimal for modeling EGA. DUX4 regulates human EGA by inducing cleavage-stage-specific genes, while it also induces cell death. We report here that a short-pulsed expression of DUX4 in primed hESCs activates an EGA-like gene expression program in up to 17% of the cells, retaining cell viability. These DUX4-induced cells resembled eight-cell stage blastomeres and were named induced blastomere-like (iBM) cells. The iBM cells showed marked reduction of POU5F1 protein, as previously observed in mouse two-cell-like cells. Finally, the iBM cells were successfully enriched using an antibody against NaPi2b (SLC34A2), which is expressed in human blastomeres. The iBM cells provide an improved model system to study human EGA transcriptome.

CRISPR activation enables high-fidelity reprogramming into human pluripotent stem cells.

Conventional reprogramming methods rely on the ectopic expression of transcription factors to reprogram somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). The forced expression of transcription factors may lead to off-target gene activation and heterogeneous reprogramming, resulting in the emergence of alternative cell types and aberrant iPSCs. Activation of endogenous pluripotency factors by CRISPR activation (CRISPRa) can reduce this heterogeneity. Here, we describe a high-efficiency reprogramming of human somatic cells into iPSCs using optimized CRISPRa. Efficient reprogramming was dependent on the additional targeting of the embryo genome activation-enriched Alu-motif and the miR-302/367 locus. Single-cell transcriptome analysis revealed that the optimized CRISPRa reprogrammed cells more directly and specifically into the pluripotent state when compared to the conventional reprogramming method. These findings support the use of CRISPRa for high-quality pluripotent reprogramming of human cells.

Simultaneous high-efficiency base editing and reprogramming of patient fibroblasts.

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) allow in vitro study of genetic diseases and hold potential for personalized stem cell therapy. Gene editing, precisely modifying specifically targeted loci, represents a valuable tool for different hiPSC applications. This is especially useful in monogenic diseases to dissect the function of unknown mutations or to create genetically corrected, patient-derived hiPSCs. Here we describe a highly efficient method for simultaneous base editing and reprogramming of fibroblasts employing a CRISPR-Cas9 adenine base editor. As a proof of concept, we apply this approach to generate gene-edited hiPSCs from skin biopsies of four patients carrying a Finnish-founder pathogenic point mutation in either NOTCH3 or LDLR genes. We also show LDLR activity restoration after the gene correction. Overall, this method yields tens of gene-edited hiPSC monoclonal lines with unprecedented efficiency and robustness while considerably reducing the cell culture time and thus the risk for in vitro alterations.