Aberrant methylation of Meg3 in alpha1,3-galactosyltransferase knockout pig induced pluripotent stem cells

Pigs have been used as a good research model for xenotransplantation. Several groups have generated porcine-induced pluripotent stem cells (piPSCs) from differentiated somatic cells. Transgenic pigs with the alpha1,3-galactosyltransferase gene-knockout (GalT-KO) could successfully govern hyper acute rejection of organ transplants into primates. Thus, GalT-KO piPSCs could be a powerful cell resource for agricultural and biomedical applications. This study was performed to generate iPSCs from GalT-KO pigs and characterize their properties. We successfully generated a GalT-KO iPSC from a genetically modified pig using double alpha1,3-galactosyltransferase knockout alterations. Similar to mouse embryonic stem cells, the GalT-KO piPSCs were positive for classical pluripotency markers: POU5F1, NANOG, SOX2 and SSEA1, and were negative for: SSEA3, TRA-1-60 and TRA-1-81. Furthermore, these cells could form an embryoid body that differentiated into three germ layers in vitro, and were highly proliferative u...