Expression profiling of genes involved in control of pluripotency using cDNA microarray

초록

Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent and capable of differentiating into somatic and germ cell lineages when conjoined with blastomeres of early mouse embryos. Adult tissue-specific stem cells have recently reported to have potential to transdifferentiate into other tissue stem cells in a specific internal environment. Thus mammalian stem cells are capable of fate changes between stem cell systems, although understanding of stem cell pluripotency and plasticity at molecular level are unclear. To identify genes implicated in the control of pluripotency, we analyzed expression profiles of genes derived from mouse morulas, blastocysts, ES cells, and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) using cDNA microarray. Comparative analyses of their expression profiles identified putative clones implicated in the control of pluripotency or stem cell-ness. These candidate clones were analyzed for expression patterns using reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and nonradioactive in situ hybridization. Functional annotation of these clones on pluripotency and stem cell plasticity is underway. These studies may further our understanding on the nature of the stem cell-ness.