Reprogramming to pluripotency is an ancienttrait of vertebrate Oct4 and Pou2 proteins

摘要

The evolutionary origins of the gene network underlying cellular pluripotency, a central themein developmental biology, have yet to be elucidated. In mammals, Oct4 is a factor crucial inthe reprogramming of differentiated cells into induced pluripotent stem cells. The Oct4 andPou2 genes evolved from a POU class V gene ancestor, but it is unknown whether pluripotencyinduced by Oct4 gene activity is a feature specific to mammals or was already present inancestral vertebrates. Here we report that different vertebrate Pou2 and Oct4 homologuescan induce pluripotency in mouse and human fibroblasts and that the inability of zebrafishPou2 to establish pluripotency is not representative of all Pou2 genes, as medaka Pou2 andaxolotl Pou2 are able to reprogram somatic cells into pluripotent cells. Therefore, our resultsindicate that induction of pluripotency is not a feature specific to mammals, but existed in theOct4/Pou2 common ancestral vertebrate.