Metabolic characterization of induced pluripotent stem cells from the critically endangered Northern White Rhinoceros

The Semester-in-Residence project was conducted in San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, conservation genetics department. The purpose of this study is to discover the metabolic properties of induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC) lines from the critically endangered Northern White Rhinoceros (NWR). We perform a series of experiments to characterize the metabolic properties of NWR iPSCs, including mitochondria detection, ATP quantification, glycolysis capacity and oxygen consumption level detection. Our results show (1) The NWR iPSCs contain high levels of viable mitochondria. (2) The intracellular ATP level in NWR iPSC is 9.55±1.53 fmol, which is less than human induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (hiPSCs). (3) NWR iPSCs and hiPSCs both primarily rely on glycolysis instead of oxidative phosphorylation for energy generation. This glycolysis and oxygen consumption data also suggest that NWR iPSCs are at primed pluripotent states. This knowledge is firstly proposed for NWR iPSCs and support a long-term international collaborative conservational project to save NWRs. There are some recommendations to enhance this study, which include: introducing more hiPSC and NWR iPSC lines; introducing positive and negative controls for the glycolysis study; including beta-oxidation study; collaborating with epigenomic study to fortify our conclusion that NWR iPSCs are at primed pluripotent states.