Abstract
Iwatsuki and colleagues have generated self-renewing pluripotent stem cells from the pre-gastrulation epiblast of the rat embryo and from other cellular sources: rat embryonic stem cells (rESCs) and epiblast-like cells derived from the rESCs. These rat epiblast-derived stem cells (rEpiSCs) display germ-line competence that is characteristic of mouse formative stem cells and early signature of specification of germ layer lineages typical of primed state mouse epiblast stem cells.