Pleurotus eryngii Polysaccharide Promotes Pluripotent Reprogramming via Facilitating Epigenetic Modification

Pleurotus eryngii is a medicinal/edible mushroom with great nutritional value and bioactivity. Its polysaccharide has recently been developed into an effective gene vector via cationic modification. In the present study, cationized P. eryngii polysaccharide (CPS), hybridized with calcium phosphate (CP), was used to codeliver plasmids (Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, c-Myc) for generating induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). The results revealed that the hybrid nanoparticles could significantly enhance the process and efficiency of reprogramming (1.6-fold increase) compared with the CP nanoparticles. The hybrid CPS also facilitated epigenetic modification during the reprogramming. Moreover, these hybrid nanoparticles exhibited multiple pathways (both caveolae- and clathrin-mediated endocytosis) in their cellular internalization, which accounted for the improved iPSCs generation. These findings therefore present a novel application of P. eryngii polysaccharide in pluripotent reprogramming via active epigenetic modification.