Coordination of Engineered Factors with TET1/2 Promotes Early-Stage Epigenetic Modification during Somatic Cell Reprogramming

Somatic cell reprogramming toward induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) holds great promise in future regenerative medicine. However, the reprogramming process mediated by the traditional defined factors (OSMK) is slow and extremely inefficient. Here, we develop a combination of modified reprogramming factors (OySyNyK) in which the transactivation domain of the Yes-associated protein is fused to defined factors and establish a highly efficient and rapid reprogramming system. We show that the efficiency of OySyNyK-induced iPSCs is up to 100-fold higher than the OSNK and the reprogramming by OySyNyK is very rapid and is initiated in 24 hr. We find that OySyNyK factors significantly increase Tet1 expression at the early stage and interact with Tet1/2 to promote reprogramming. Our studies not only establish a rapid and highly efficient iPSC reprogramming system but also uncover a mechanism by which engineered factors coordinate with TETs to regulate 5hmC-mediated epigenetic control.