Mouse totipotent blastomere-like cells model embryogenesis from zygotic genome activation to post implantation

Abstract

Embryo development begins with zygotic genome activation (ZGA), eventually generating blastocysts for implantation. However, in vitro systems modeling the pre-implantation development are still absent and challenging. Here, we used mouse totipotent blastomere-like cells (TBLCs) to develop spontaneous differentiation and blastoid formation systems, respectively. We found Wnt signaling enabled the rapid expansion of TBLCs and the optimization of their culture medium. We successfully developed a TBLC-spontaneous differentiation system in which mouse TBLCs (mTBLCs) firstly converted into two types of ZGA-like cells (ZLCs) distinguished by Zscan4 expression. Surprisingly, Zscan4-, but not Zscan4+, ZLCs further passed through intermediate 4-cell and then 8-cell/morula stages to produce epiblast, primitive endoderm, and trophectoderm lineages. Significantly, single TBLCs underwent expansion, compaction, and polarization to efficiently generate blastocyst-like structures and even post-implantation egg-cylinder-like structures. Conclusively, we established TBLC-based differentiation and embryo-like structure formation systems to model early embryonic development, offering criteria for evaluating and understanding totipotency.