Murine Skin-Derived Multipotent Papillary Dermal Fibroblast Progenitors Show Germline Potential In Vitro

This study identified multipotent papillary dermal fibroblast progenitors (pDFPs) as the source of skin-derived stem cells (SDSCs) from newborn mouse skin. Using single-cell RNA sequencing, researchers analyzed 7,543 single-cell transcriptomes and found that these progenitors reside in the dermal layer. The study demonstrated that epidermal growth factor (EGF) signaling was crucial for the proliferation and colony formation of these cells in vitro. The researchers successfully optimized a protocol to differentiate SDSCs into primordial germ cell-like cells (PGCLCs) and further into spermatogonial stem cell-like cells (SSCLCs), which exhibited meiotic potential when cultured with testicular organoids. This was the first time such precursors were shown to generate cells of the male germline.