A Resource for the Transcriptional Signature of Bona Fide Trophoblast Stem Cells and Analysis of Their Embryonic Persistence

Figure 2

TSCs in culture exhibit heterogeneous patterns of EOMES, CDX2, and ELF5 staining which is recapitulated by reporter expression. Cultured TSCs are colabelled with antibodies against EOMES, CDX2, and ELF5 or the knock-in reporter allele. (a) EOMES staining and CDX2 staining largely overlap in TSCs of small size, which morphologically match undifferentiated TSCs (solid boxed region), but staining diverges in enlarged cells (dashed boxed region). (b) ELF5 and EOMES immunostaining widely labels the same cells, and accordingly (c) ELF5 and CDX2 do not colocalize in enlarged cells ((c), dashed boxed region). (d) EOMES protein levels and reporter expression closely correlate and highest fluorescence intensities are found in cells with strongest EOMES staining.