Pluripotent Stem Cells Induced from Mouse Neural Stem Cells and Small Intestinal Epithelial Cells by Small Molecule Compounds

Pluripotent stem cells can be generated by pure small molecule compounds. However, only fibroblasts, a heterogeneous cell population, were reported for use in chemical reprogramming, and the efficiency is relatively low, raising the possibility that chemically induced pluripotent stem cells (CiPSCs) are derived from a specific cell subpopulation residing in fibroblast culture. Thus, it is of interest to know whether chemical reprogramming can be induced in other cell types, even using the same chemical cocktail. Here, using lineage tracing, we verify the generation of CiPSCs from fibroblasts. We further demonstrate that neural stem cells (NSCs) and small intestinal epithelial cells (IECs), cell types from the ectoderm and endoderm, respectively, can be chemically reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells. CiPSCs derived from NSCs and IECs resemble mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) in terms of proliferation rate, global gene expression profiling, epigenetic status, self-renewal and differentiation capacity, and germline transmission competency. Interestingly, in the chemical reprogramming process from different cell types, a pluripotency gene Sall4 was commonly expressed in the initial stage, and the same core small molecules were required, suggesting conservatism underlying chemical reprogramming from different cell types. Moreover, the use of these small molecules should be fine-tuned to meet the requirement of reprogramming from different cell types. Together, these findings demonstrate that our reported chemical reprogramming approach can be reproduced in different cell types and suggest that chemical reprogramming is a promising strategy with the potential to be extended to more initial cell types. Overall design: We analyzed the gene expression profiles of NSC-derived CiPSCs and IEC-derived CiPSCs ,using RNA-Sequencing. NSCs, IECs, and embryonic stem cells (R1) are controls.