The primitive endoderm supports lineage plasticity to enable regulative development [scRNA-Seq]

Mammalian blastocyst formation involves the specification of trophectoderm followed by differentiation of the inner cell mass into embryonic epiblast and extra-embryonic primitive endoderm (PrE). During this time, the embryo maintains a window of plasticity and can redirect its cellular fate when challenged experimentally. In this context, we found that the PrE alone was sufficient to regenerate a complete blastocyst and continue postimplantation development. We identify an in vitro population similar to the early PrE in vivo that exhibits the same embryonic and extra-embryonic potency and can form complete stem cell-based embryo models termed blastoids. Commitment in the PrE is suppressed by JAK/STAT signalling, collaborating with OCT4 and the sustained expression of a subset of pluripotency-related transcription factors that safeguard an enhancer landscape permissive for multi-lineage differentiation. Our observations support the notion that transcription factor persistence underlies plasticity in regulative development and highlights the importance of the PrE in perturbed development.