Genetic Heterogeneity of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells: Exome sequence of 24 clones derived from a single mouse

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), created by reprogramming somatic cells to a pluripotent state, are a potentially powerful tool for modeling disease and treatment. As the generation of an iPSC starts with a single somatic cell, all of the cells in the resulting iPSC clone would be expected to carry forward the genetic variants of the founding cell. We have observed the genetic heterogeneity resulting from the cloning of individual cells in a previous study with a small number of clones derived from multiple mouse strains. To more comprehensively assess the degree of genetic heterogeneity that can result from iPSC generation and to determine whether some cells are more genetically ''fit'' for reprogramming, we have performed exome sequencing via two capture platforms on 24 mouse iPSC clones derived from skin fibroblasts obtained from two different sites on the same 8-week-old C57BL/6J male mouse.