Small molecule- and cell contact-inducible systems for controlling expression and differentiation in mouse embryonic stem cells

Synthetic developmental biology uses engineering approaches to understand multicellularity with goals ranging from recapitulating development to building synthetic organisms. Current approaches include engineering multicellular patterning, controlling differentiation and implementing cooperative cellular behaviors in model systems. Synthetic biology enables these pursuits by providing tools to control cell behavior. Mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) offer a well-studied and genetically tractable pluripotent model for pursuing synthetic development questions. However, there is minimal characterization of existing synthetic biology tools in mESCs. Here, we characterize three small molecule- and two cell contact-inducible systems for gene expression in and differentiation of mESCs. We show that small molecule- and cell contact-inducible systems work reliably and efficiently for controlling expression of arbitrary genetic payloads. We identify how these systems function differently across model differentiations. Furthermore, we show that these systems can drive direct differentiation of mESCs into neurons. Each of these systems can be used on their own or in combination, raising many possibilities for studying developmental principles with high precision.