Metabolic enhancement of developmental pausing (TS cells)

Embryonic stem (ES) cells and embryos reversibly pause via chemical mTOR inhibition. In this study, we investigate the tissue-specific response to mTORi-induced pausing in ES and trophoblast stem (TS) cells. To resolve the sequential rewiring of the proteome, we conducted a time-series proteomics experiment at 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, and 48 hours upon induction of pausing, and at 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, and 48 hours upon release of pausing in ES and TS cells. We find that ES, but not TS cells pause reversibly. To optimise developmental pausing conditions, we reasoned that by understanding the difference in pausing response of ES and TS cells, we could identify which pathways are essential for pausing. We found that KEGG pathways related to amino acid degradation, fatty acid degradation, and DNA repair are upregulated in ES cells, but downregulated in TS cells during entry into pausing. Moreover, by targeted metabolomics, we found a depletion of short chain carnitines in the paused ES cells. To extend the length of developmental pausing, we supplemented paused embryos with L-carnitine. The L-carnitine supplementation facilitates lipid usage and prolongs the pausing length by 19 days through the establishment of a more dormant state.