Epiblast complementation enables generation of live offspring from pluripotent stem cells.

Epiblast complementation in mice shows that a single naive pluripotent stem cell can reconstitute the host epiblast and produce live offspring.

• Why it matters: Blastocyst complementation has enabled donor PSC tissue generation in vivo, but it has been largely limited to individual organs, leaving a need for a whole-embryo functional test.
• What they did: The authors create an empty developmental niche in the host epiblast and use wild-type or genetically modified naive PSCs, as well as formative PSCs, to replace the host epiblast and support development to term.
• The result: Both naive and formative PSCs fully reconstitute epiblast-derived tissues and generate live offspring, establishing epiblast complementation as a functional assay for PSC developmental potential and a route to genetically defined animals from cultured PSCs.

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