The proper differentiation and threat of cancer rising from the application of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are major bottlenecks in the field and are thought to be inherently linked to the pluripotent nature of iPS cells. To address this question, we have compared iPS cells to embryonic stem cells (ESCs), the gold standard of ground state pluripotency, in search for proteins that may i...

Pluripotency, the capacity of a cell to give rise to differentiated derivatives that represent each of the three primary germ layers, belongs to the cells that are located within the inner cell mass (ICM) of the developing blastocyst. Functional studies have identified a group of transcription factors, the pluripotency transcription factors that affect the pluripotent capacity. Within this grou...

Regulatory networks for differentiation and pluripotency in embryonic stem (ES) cells have long been suggested to be mutually exclusive. However, with the identification of many new components of these networks ranging from epigenetic, transcriptional, and translational to even post-translational mechanisms, the cellular states of pluripotency and early differentiation might not be strictly bi-...

Recently new reports have proved the pluripotency of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) derived from male gonad. This pluripotent stem cells resembled Embryonic stem cells recognized as Embryonic Stem like cells (ES like cells). ES like cells forms sharp edge colonies that are immunopositive to pluripotency markers and have differentiation capacity to Ectodermal, Mesodermal and Endodermal layers....

Embryonic pluripotency in the mouse is established and maintained by a gene-regulatory network under the control of a core set of transcription factors that include octamer-binding protein 4 (Oct4; official name POU domain, class 5, transcription factor 1, Pou5f1), sex-determining region Y (SRY)-box containing gene 2 (Sox2), and homeobox protein Nanog. Although this network is largely conserved...

For self-renewal, embryonic stem cells (ESCs) require the expression of specific transcription factors accompanied by a particular chromosome organization to maintain a balance between pluripotency and the capacity for rapid differentiation. However, how transcriptional regulation is linked to chromosome organization in ESCs is not well understood. Here we show that the cohesin component RAD21 ...

Stem cell cultures can be derived directly from early developing embryos and indirectly from differentiated cells by forced expression of pluripotency transcription factors. Pluripotency genes are routinely used to characterize mammalian stem cell cultures at the molecular level. However, such genes have remained unknown in lower vertebrates. In this regard, the laboratory fish medaka is unique...

Pluripotency genes are implicated in mouse embryonic genome activation (EGA) and pluripotent lineage specification. Moreover, their expression levels have been correlated with embryonic term development. In bovine, however, little information is available about dynamics of pluripotency genes during these processes. In this study, we charted quantitative and/or qualitative spatio-temporal expres...

Embryonic stem (ES) cell pluripotency is dependent upon sustained expression of the key transcriptional regulators Oct4, Nanog, and Sox2. Dissection of the regulatory networks downstream of these transcription factors has provided critical insight into the molecular mechanisms that regulate ES cell pluripotency and early differentiation. Here we describe a role for Zic3, a member of the Gli fam...

Low oxygen tension (hypoxia) contributes critically to pluripotency of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) by preventing spontaneous differentiation and supporting self-renewal. However, it is not well understood how hESCs respond to reduced oxygen availability and what are the molecular mechanisms maintaining pluripotency in these conditions. In this study we characterized the transcriptional a...