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. Overall design: 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.