DNMTs Play an Important Role in Maintaining the Pluripotency of Leukemia Inhibitory Factor Dependent Embryonic Stem Cells

Naïve pluripotency can be maintained in 2i/LIF supplements, which primarily affect canonical WNT, FGF/ERK, and JAK/STAT3 signaling. However, whether one of these tripartite supplements alone is sufficient to maintain naïve self-renewal remain unclear. Here we show that LIF alone medium is sufficient for adaptation of 2i/L-ESCs to ESCs with hypermethylated state (L-ESCs). Global transcriptomic analysis show that L-ESCs are close to 2i/L-ESCs and in a stable state between naïve and primed pluripotency. Notably, our results demonstrate that DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) play an important role for LIF-dependent mouse ESCs adaptation and self-renew. LIF-dependent ESCs adaptation efficiency is significantly increased in serum treatment and reduced in Dnmt3a or Dnmt3l knockout ESCs. Importantly, unlike epiblast stem cells, L-ESCs contribute to somatic tissues and germ cells in chimaeras. L-ESCs cultured in such a simple conditions in this study would provide a more conducive platform to clarify the molecular mechanism of ESCs in vitro culture. Overall design: Replicate DNA methylation-seq datasets from mouse L-ESCs maintained in different stem cells culture conditions.