Transcriptomic profiling fuels the derivation of stable pig epiblast stem cells

It is controversial whether pig pluripotent stem cells can be derived and stably maintained in a culture dish. In a recent paper published in Cell Research, Zhi et al. perform a comprehensive transcriptome landscape analysis of pig embryos at all developmental stages from embryonic (E) day 0 to E14 and identify a culture cocktail to stabilize pig pregastrulation epiblast stem cells (pgEpiSCs) in vitro for long-term passaging; the pgEpiSCs can undergo multiple rounds of gene editing and generate cloned animals.