Royal jelly protein component maintains stem cell pluripotency

According to a study published by the British journal Nature Communications on the 5th, the team of American scientists found that the protein component of royal jelly, called Royalactin, can maintain the pluripotency of mouse embryonic stem cells. The study also pointed out that the discovery of structural analogs in mammals has a similar promotion effect on stem cell pluripotency, revealing the intrinsic mechanism of stem cell self-renewal.

Royal jelly is a "bee maker" of bees that is known to affect mammals' longevity, fertility and regenerative capacity. Royal Jelly Major Protein 1 (MRJP1, also known as Royalactin) is a functional component of royal jelly that regulates other species or activates a conserved pathway. However, these conserved cellular signaling pathways have not been elucidated.

This time, Kevin Wang, a researcher at Stanford University School of Medicine, and colleagues found that Royalactin protein can activate the pluripotency gene network of mouse embryonic stem cells cultured in vitro without other embryonic stem cell maintenance factors. And maintain these cells. After the cells added with the Royalactin protein are injected into the mouse blastocyst, the embryo can still produce viable mice, which can also be integrated into the germ cells of the mouse.

The team also found structural analogs of the Royalactin protein in mammals, which they call Regina, which have similar functional capabilities in maintaining mouse embryonic stem cell characteristics in vitro. This suggests that there is an evolutionary conserved pathway from bees to mammals that may regulate the different processes in each species.