Dynamic Enlargement and Mobilization of Lipid Droplets in Pluripotent Cells Coordinate Morphogenesis during Mouse Peri-implantation Development

ESCs grown in Growth Factor-reduced Matrigel can recapitulate in vitro the morphogenesis of the epiblast tissue during peri-implantation development. We performed RNA-sequencing on wild-type (WT) and Cidea knockout (KO) mouse R1-ESCs grown under self-renewing (serum/LIF) conditions and in 3D culture conditions (i.e., 3D spheroids ) at different time-points of differentiation (24h and 48h post-induction) to help us understand the role of the lipid droplet associated factor CIDEA (Cell Death Inducing DFFA Like Effector A) in ESC biology and during the process of morphogenesis. Cidea KO ESCs were generated from CRISPR-Cas9 deletion of the whole locus (Cidea). Subclone (19.7) of the KO cells and parental WT R1-ESCs, along with 3D spheroids (differentiating in Growth Factor-reduced Matrigel) formed from both cell lines, were sequenced for gene expression comparison.