Honey bee Royalactin unlocks conserved pluripotency pathway in mammals.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 30510260.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-018-06256-4 and PMC identifier 6277453.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Royal jelly is the queen-maker for the honey bee Apis mellifera, and has cross-species effects on longevity, fertility, and regeneration in mammals. Despite this knowledge, how royal jelly or its components exert their myriad effects has remained poorly understood. Using mouse embryonic stem cells as a platform, here we report that through its major protein component Royalactin, royal jelly can maintain pluripotency by activating a ground-state pluripotency-like gene network. We further identify Regina, a mammalian structural analog of Royalactin that also induces a naive-like state in mouse embryonic stem cells. This reveals an important innate program for stem cell self-renewal with broad implications in understanding the molecular regulation of stem cell fate across species.
Medical subject headings
- Fatty Acids
- Glycoproteins
- Insect Proteins
- Mammals
- Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells
- Pluripotent Stem Cells