Non-human primate embryonic stem and germ cells: methods of use and methods of making same

A method of determining the differentiation status of an embryonic cell comprising the steps of:

• determining the cell transcriptional pattern of said embyronic cell;
• comparing said embryonic cell transcriptional pattern to prototype transcriptional patterns, wherein each of said prototype transcriptional patterns are derived from an embryonic cell of a specific embryonic cell differentiation status;
• determining which of said prototype transcriptional pattern most closely resembles said embryonic cell transcriptional pattern;
• and
• assigning the specific embryonic cell differentiation status corresponding to said prototype transcriptional pattern most closely matching said embryonic cell transcriptional pattern, to said embryonic cell.

A method comprising the steps of:

• mating non-human primates to establish a pregnancy;
• terminating said pregnancy at between 28 and 45 days post coitus;
• obtaining an nhp fetus;
• isolating gonads from said fetus;
• placing said gonads onto plates of feeder cells;
• culturing said plates;
• fixing and staining said plates for TNAP, a marker for PGCs;
• detecting PGCs from said TNAP staining of said plates;
• placing said PGCs into culture;
• supplementing said culture with LIF and bFGF required for formation of EG cells, and the PGC mitogen forskolin;
• feeding said culture daily and examining for said EG cells;
• isolating said EG cells by picking;
• plating said EG cells singly;
• and
• testing said EG cells of resultant colonies for markers expressed on EG cells.