The State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Regulation and Breeding of Grassland Livestock, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010020, China.
Research Center for Animal Genetic Resources of Mongolia Plateau, College of Life Sciences, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010020, China.
Biol Reprod. 2023 Jun 9;108(6):887-901. doi: 10.1093/biolre/ioad041.
The mule is the interspecific hybrid of horse and donkey and has hybrid vigor in muscular endurance, disease resistance, and longevity over its parents. Here, we examined adult fibroblasts of mule (MAFs) compared with the cells from their parents (donkey adult fibroblasts and horse adult fibroblasts) (each species has repeated three independent individuals) in proliferation, apoptosis, and glycolysis and found significant differences. We subsequently derived mule, donkey, and horse doxycycline (Dox)-independent induced pluripotent stem cells (miPSCs, diPSCs, and hiPSCs) from three independent individuals of each species and found that the reprogramming efficiency of MAFs was significantly higher than that of cells of donkey and horse. miPSCs, diPSCs, and hiPSCs all expressed the high levels of crucial endogenous pluripotency genes such as POU class 5 homeobox 1 (POU5F1, OCT4), SRY-box 2 (SOX2), and Nanog homeobox (NANOG) and propagated robustly in single-cell passaging. miPSCs exhibited faster proliferation and higher pluripotency and differentiation than diPSCs and hiPSCs, which were reflected in co-cultures and separate-cultures, teratoma formation, and chimera contribution. The establishment of miPSCs provides a unique research material for the investigation of "heterosis" and perhaps is more significant to study hybrid gamete formation.
骡子是马和驴的种间杂种，具有肌肉耐力、抗病性和长寿方面的杂种优势，超过其父母。在这里，我们比较了骡子（MAFs）的成纤维细胞与它们父母（驴成纤维细胞和马成纤维细胞）的细胞（每种物种都有三个独立个体重复）在增殖、凋亡和糖酵解方面的差异，发现了显著的差异。随后，我们从每种物种的三个独立个体中分别衍生出了骡子、驴和马的四环素（Dox）独立诱导多能干细胞（miPSCs、diPSCs 和 hiPSCs），发现 MAFs 的重编程效率明显高于驴和马的细胞。miPSCs、diPSCs 和 hiPSCs 均表达高水平的关键内源性多能性基因，如 POU 类 5 同源盒 1（POU5F1，OCT4）、SRY 盒 2（SOX2）和 Nanog 同源盒（NANOG），并在单细胞传代中大量繁殖。miPSCs 的增殖速度更快，多能性和分化能力也高于 diPSCs 和 hiPSCs，这在共培养和单独培养、畸胎瘤形成和嵌合体贡献中都有体现。miPSCs 的建立为研究“杂种优势”提供了独特的研究材料，也许对研究杂种配子形成更有意义。
