Efficient generation of mouse ESCs-like pig induced pluripotent stem cells

Dear Editor, Porcine induced pluripotency stem cells (piPSCs) are promised in basic research, animal husbandry and regenerative medicine. However, the efficiency of the piPSCs induction has been low and the generated piPSCs varied in cell morphology and cell characteristics. Here we report a novel approach to improve efficiency of piPSCs generation. The induced piPSCs are dome-shaped mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs)-like and display molecular properties of mouse ESCs. Electroporation study reveals that mouse ESCs-like status facilitates genetic manipulating of piPSCs. Importantly, we demonstrate that the domed piPSC colonies are more suitable as donor cells for nuclear transfer (NT) to generate reconstructed embryos than those flattened piPSCs. The potential applications of the newly generated piPSCs in ungulate pluripotent research are discussed.