Characteristics of Novel Chicken Embryonic Stem Cells Established Using Chicken Leukemia Inhibitory Factor

Chickens are an ideal animal model study tool for developmental biology, and a farm animal with excellent productivity. Researchers have therefore long sought to establish chicken embryonic stem cells (cESCs) to enable the creation of genetically modified chickens. Here, we derived novel cESCs from chicken blastodermal cells (CBCs) cultured with chicken leukemia inhibitory factor (chLIF). These cESCs have the capacity for long-term (100 days or more) successive subculture and express both chicken Nanog (chNanog) and chicken vasa homolog (Cvh) mRNAs and proteins. The cESCs showed a capacity for chimeric formation during a transplant experiment that used a fertilized egg. Transfer of the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) gene to cESCs enabled green fluorescence to be observed among primordial germ cells (PGCs). These results indicate that novel cESCs should have the capacity to differentiate into germ cells.