Title of Presentation

“Human In Vitro Gametogenesis Research: Significance and Perspective”

The germ cell lineage ensures the creation of new individuals, perpetuating/diversifying the genetic and epigenetic information across the generations.

We have been investigating the mechanism for germ cell development, and have shown that mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs)/induced pluripotent stem cells (miPSCs) are induced into primordial germ cell-like cells (mPGCLCs) with a robust capacity both for spermatogenesis and oogenesis and for contributing to offspring. These works have served as a basis for exploring the mechanism of key events during germ cell development such as epigenetic reprogramming and sex determination/meiotic entry.

We have also shown that human iPSCs (hiPSCs) with a primed pluripotency robustly generates human PGCLCs (hPGCLCs) with a property of human early PGCs. Moreover, by investigating the development of cynomolgus monkeys, we have defined a developmental coordinate of the spectrum of pluripotency among mice, monkeys, and humans, and have identified the origin of the germ cell lineage in cynomolgus monkeys in the amnion. More recently, we have shown the hPGCLCs can be induced into oogonia/early oocytes with appropriate epigenetic reprogramming in xenogenetic reconstituted ovaries.

Here, I would like to discuss our latest findings regarding the mechanism of and in vitro reconstitution of germ-cell development in mice, monkeys, and humans.

Profile

Web Site URL

https://ashbi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/

A brief Biography(As of April 1, 2020)

1995	B.Med., Kyoto University
1999	M.D., Ph.D., Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University (supervised by Professor Shoichiro Tsukita)
1999-2003	Travelling Research Fellow/Senior Research Associate, Gordon Institute (supervised by Professor Azim Surani)
2003-2009	Team Leader, RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology
2009-Present	Professor, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University
2011-2018	Research Director, Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology (ERATO), Strategic Basic Research Programs, Japan Science and Technology Agency
2018-Present	Guest Principal Investigator, Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, Kyoto University
2018-Present	Professor, Institute for Advanced Study / Director, Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Biology

Details of selected Awards and Honors

2014	Japan Academy Medal
2014	JSPS Prize
2016	Takeda Medical Prize
2018	Academic Award of the Mochida Memorial Foundation
2020	Asahi Prize
2020	Uehara Prize
2020	Imperial Prize and Japan Academy Prize
2020	ISSCR Momentum Award
2020	EMBO Associate Member

A list of selected Publications

Saitou, M., Barton, S. C., and Surani, M. A. (2002). A molecular programme for the specification of germ cell fate in mice. Nature, 418, 293-300.

Ohinata, Y., Payer, B., O’Carroll, D., Ancelin, K., Ono, Y., Sano, M., Barton, S. C., Obukhanych, T., Nussenzweig, M., Tarakhovsky, A., *Saitou, M., and *Surani, M. A. (2005). Blimp1 is a critical determinant of the germ cell lineage in mice. Nature, 436, 207-213. *Co-correspondence

Ohinata, Y., Ohta, H., Shigeta, M., Yamanaka, K., Wakayama, T., and Saitou, M. (2009). A signaling principle for the specification of the germ cell lineage in mice. Cell, 137, 571-584.

Hayashi, K., Ohta, H., Kurimoto, K., Aramaki, S., and Saitou, M. (2011). Reconstitution of the mouse germ cell specification pathway in culture by pluripotent stem cells. Cell, 146, 519-532.

Hayashi, K., Ogushi, S., Kurimoto, K., Shimamoto, S., Ohta, H., and Saitou, M. (2012). Offspring from oocytes derived from in vitro primordial germ cell-like cells in mice. Science, 338, 971-975.

Nakaki, F., Hayashi, K., Ohta, H., Kurimoto, K., Yabuta, Y., and Saitou, M. (2013). Induction of the mouse germ cell fate by transcription factors in vitro. Nature, 501, 222-226.

Nakamura, T., Okamoto, I., Sasaki, K., Yabuta, Y., Iwatani, C., Tsuchiya, H., Seita, Y., Nakamura, S., Yamamoto, T., and Saitou, M. (2016). A developmental coordinate of pluripotency among mice, monkeys, and humans, Nature, 537, 57-62.

Hirota, T., Ohta, H., Powell, B. E., Mahadevaiah, S., K., Ojarikre, O. A., *Saitou, M., and *Turner, J. M. A. (2017). Fertile offspring from sterile sex chromosome trisomic mice, Science, 357, 932-935. *Co-correspondence

Yamashiro, C., Sasaki, K., Yabuta, Y., Kojima, Y., Nakamura, T., Okamoto, I., Yokobayashi, S., Murase, Y., Ishikura, Y., Shirane, K., Sasaki, H., Yamamoto, T., and Saitou, M. (2018). Generation of human oogonia from induced pluripotent stem cells in vitro, Science, 362, 356-360.

Nagaoka, S. I., Nakaki, F., Miyauchi, H., Nosaka, Y., Ohta, H., Yabuta, Y., Kurimoto, K., Hayashi, K., Nakamura, T., Yamamoto T., and Saitou, M. (2020). ZGLP1 is a determinant for the oogenic fate in mice, Science, in press (10.1126/science.aaw4115 (2020)).