Medaka haploid embryonic stem cells

Abstract

The appearance of diploidy, the presence of two genomes or chromosome sets, is a fundamental hallmark of eukaryotic evolution and bisexual reproduction, because diploidy offers the basis for the bisexual life cycle, allowing for oscillation between diploid and haploid phases. Meiosis produces haploid gametes. At fertilization, male and female gametes fuse to restore diploidy in a zygote, which develops into a new life. At sex maturation, diploid cells enter into meiosis, culminating in the production of haploid gametes. Therefore, diploidy ensures pluripotency, cell proliferation, and functions, whereas haploidy is restricted only to the post-meiotic gamete phase of germline development and represents the end point of cell growth. Diploidy is advantageous for evolution. Haploidy is ideal for genetic analyses, because any recessive mutations of essential genes will show a clear phenotype in the absence of a second gene copy. Recently, my laboratory succeeded in the generation of medaka haploid embryonic stem (ES) cells capable of whole animal production. Therefore, haploidy in a vertebrate is able to support stable cell culture and pluripotency. This finding anticipates the possibility to generate haploid ES cells in other vertebrate species such as zebrafish. These medaka haploid ES cells elegantly combine haploidy and pluripotency, offering a unique yeast-like system for in vitro genetic analyses of molecular, cellular, and developmental events in various cell lineages. This chapter is aimed to describe the strategy of haploid ES cell derivation and their characteristics, and illustrate the perspectives of haploid ES cells for infertility treatment, genetic screens, and analyses. © 2010 Elsevier Inc.