The State of Nature X: Why Leave? A Preface on the State of Nature Theory

Great minds have addressed the issue of forming a polity, dating back to Plato. Yet, most of these great minds, such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, argue for the need to escape the state of nature into a civil form of government. However, after taking the three essential elements of man that these philosophers all comment on, self-preservation, reason, and will, a new state of nature model is created that is stronger. It is stronger because of its definition of man and the analytic inferences that flow from that definition. Therefore, the state of nature theory does not preclude man from living outside the bounds of government

Cancer-Related Mutations Are Not Enriched in Naive Human Pluripotent Stem Cells.

Previous analysis of RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data from human naive pluripotent stem cells reported multiple point "mutations" in cancer-related genes and implicated selective culture conditions. We observed, however, that those mutations were only present in co-cultures with mouse feeder cells. Inspection of reads containing the polymorphisms revealed complete identity to the mouse reference genome. After we filtered reads to remove sequences of mouse origin, the actual incidence of oncogenic polymorphisms arising in naive pluripotent stem cells is close to zero.We are grateful to James Clarke for cell culture support and to Vicki Murry and Maike Paramor for generating sequencing libraries. This research was funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) of the United Kingdom. The Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute receives core support from Wellcome and MRC. AS is a Medical Research Council Professor

Capacitation of human naïve pluripotent stem cells for multi-lineage differentiation.

Human naïve pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) share features with the pre-implantation epiblast. They therefore provide an unmatched opportunity for characterising the developmental programme of pluripotency in Homo sapiens Here, we confirm that naïve PSCs do not respond directly to germ layer induction, but must first acquire competence. Capacitation for multi-lineage differentiation occurs without exogenous growth factor stimulation and is facilitated by inhibition of Wnt signalling. Whole-transcriptome profiling during this formative transition highlights dynamic changes in gene expression, which affect many cellular properties including metabolism and epithelial features. Notably, naïve pluripotency factors are exchanged for postimplantation factors, but competent cells remain devoid of lineage-specific transcription. The gradual pace of transition for human naïve PSCs is consistent with the timespan of primate development from blastocyst to gastrulation. Transcriptome trajectory during in vitro capacitation of human naïve cells tracks the progression of the epiblast during embryogenesis in Macaca fascicularis, but shows greater divergence from mouse development. Thus, the formative transition of naïve PSCs in a simple culture system may recapitulate essential and specific features of pluripotency dynamics during an inaccessible period of human embryogenesis.This research was funded by the Medical Research Council of the United Kingdom (G1001028 and MR/P00072X/1), the European Commission Framework 7 (HEALTH-F4-2013-602423, PluriMes) and the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform (MR/L012537/1). The Cambridge Stem Cell Institute receives core funding from the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. AS is a Medical Research Council Professor

DEFINITION OF TRANSCRIPTIONAL LANDSCAPE IN CARDIAC MATURATION AND CARDIAC HYPERTROPHY

Heart failure (HF) is a syndrome resulting from a complex genetic predisposition and multiple environmental factors: it is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Specific gene expression patterns are activated in the hypertrophic and failing heart and are thought to contribute to the development of HF. Many regulatory molecules are involved in the control of gene expression: among these, long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) is gaining importance for several cellular process and diseases. However, little is still known about its involvement in HF. Many functions have been attributed to lncRNAs, such as cell proliferation, apoptosis and cell invasion, indicating that they may represent a major regulatory component of the eukaryotic genome. Not surprisingly, lncRNAs have been found implicated in several aspects of cancer, and in many neuronal diseases. Despite this, and the known role of other ncRNAs, such as miRNA, in HF, the function of lncRNAs in this pathologic state has been not studied. Thus, the general hypothesis behind this project is that lncRNAs have an important role in defining gene expression re-programming in HF. Consequently, the overall scientific objective of this proposal is to study the role of lncRNAs in gene transcription regulation accompanying heart failure. To this end, we propose to use high-throughput RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) to identify lncRNAs that are modulated in cardiomyocytes during HF. In order do to this, we performed RNA-seq on cardiomyocytes isolated from mice after 1, 2, 4 and 7 days of transverse aortic constriction (TAC) and from sham-operated mice. The importance of this study lies not only in the furthering of our understanding of the pathological mechanisms leading HF, but aims to generate \u2013 in the light of recent progress in RNA-based therapeutic strategies \u2013 data that may be instrumental to the development of improved therapeutic strategies for this increasingly frequent pathology