Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Jan 26, 2021; 13(1): 1-29
Published online Jan 26, 2021. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v13.i1.1
Perspectives of pluripotent stem cells in livestock
Dharmendra Kumar, Thirumala R Talluri, Naresh L Selokar, Iqbal Hyder, Wilfried A Kues
Dharmendra Kumar, Naresh L Selokar, Animal Physiology and Reproduction Division, ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes, Hisar 125001, India
Thirumala R Talluri, Equine Production Campus, ICAR-National Research Centre on Equines, Bikaner 334001, India
Iqbal Hyder, Department of Physiology, NTR College of Veterinary Science, Gannavaram 521102, India
Wilfried A Kues, Department of Biotechnology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute, Federal Institute of Animal Health, Neustadt 31535, Germany
Author contributions: Kumar D and Kues WA drafted and wrote the review; Talluri TR designed the figures; Hyder I and Selokar NL contributed to specific chapters; all authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Dharmendra Kumar, PhD, Senior Scientist, Animal Physiology and Reproduction Division, ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes, Hisar 125001, India. dharmendra.kumar@icar.gov.in
Received: June 26, 2020
Peer-review started: June 26, 2020
First decision: September 18, 2020
Revised: September 28, 2020
Accepted: November 9, 2020
Article in press: November 9, 2020
Published online: January 26, 2021
Abstract

The recent progress in derivation of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) from farm animals opens new approaches not only for reproduction, genetic engineering, treatment and conservation of these species, but also for screening novel drugs for their efficacy and toxicity, and modelling of human diseases. Initial attempts to derive PSCs from the inner cell mass of blastocyst stages in farm animals were largely unsuccessful as either the cells survived for only a few passages, or lost their cellular potency; indicating that the protocols which allowed the derivation of murine or human embryonic stem (ES) cells were not sufficient to support the maintenance of ES cells from farm animals. This scenario changed by the innovation of induced pluripotency and by the development of the 3 inhibitor culture conditions to support naïve pluripotency in ES cells from livestock species. However, the long-term culture of livestock PSCs while maintaining the full pluripotency is still challenging, and requires further refinements. Here, we review the current achievements in the derivation of PSCs from farm animals, and discuss the potential application areas.

Keywords: Livestock, Cellular reprogramming, Chimera, Cell-therapy, Ontogenesis, Pluripotency

Core Tip: The successful derivation of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) from livestock represents an ideal model for the progress of veterinary, biomedical and regenerative medicine. The inherent properties of self-renewal and differentiation make PSCs an ideal raw biomaterial for innovative approaches in artificial reproductive techniques, cell-based therapy, disease modelling, drug testing, organ generation, breed conservation and in vitro meat production. In this review, we present the current status of PSCs application for the development of livestock farming and their potential applications for human welfare.