Are all ES cell clones capable of generating chimeric mice?
There is no way to predict a priori the pluripotent potential of a given ES clone prior to microinjection. While clones that look beautiful in culture exhibiting characteristics of undifferentiated cells is promising, visual appearance alone is not indicative of pluripotency. Individual ES cell clones vary in their ability to contribute to the genetic makeup of a chimeric mouse. Good clones are capable of consistently generating highly chimeric males while other clones may generate only low percentage chimeras or none at all.
