Specification of the Germline in Monozygotic Twins with Discordant Primary Ovarian Insufficiency

Women diagnosed with primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) cannot produce oocytes and therefore are not candidates for the majority of current assisted reproductive technology treatments. POI can in some cases arise due to errors in primordial germ cell (PGC) specification and PGC differentiation into oogonia and oocytes. To address the ability to reverse germ cell loss in infertile women through induced reprogramming followed by germ cell differentiation, we derived hiPSCs from monozygotic (MZ) twins discordant for POI. hiPSC lines derived from all research participants successfully differentiated into primordial germ cell-like cells (hPGCLCs), as determined by flow cytometry, immunofluorescence, and 10x single-cell RNA sequencing. Therefore, we demonstrate that after epigenetic reprogramming, infertile women with POI can re-specify germ cells. The research presented here advances efforts of fertility restoration and understanding of the germ cell lineage. hPGCLC aggregates differentiated from five hiPSC sublines were sequenced for 10X single cell-RNA seq. Three replicates per sample.