A key issue to be addressed in stem cell biology is the molecular signaling mechanism controlling embryonic stem （ES） cell pluripotency. Stem cell properties are dictated by specific transcription factors and epigen...A key issue to be addressed in stem cell biology is the molecular signaling mechanism controlling embryonic stem （ES） cell pluripotency. Stem cell properties are dictated by specific transcription factors and epigenetic processes such as DNA methylation and chromatin remodeling. Several cytokines/growth factors have been identified as critical ES cell regulators. However, there is a gap in our knowledge of the intracellular signaling pathways linking extracellular signals to transcriptional regulation in ES cells. This short review discusses the physiological role of Shp2, a cytoplasmic tyro- sine phosphatase, in the molecular switch governing ES cell self-renewal versus differentiation. Shp2 promotes ES cell differentiation, mainly through bi-directional modulation of Erk and Stat3 pathways. Deletion of Shp2 in mouse ES cells results in more efficient self-renewal. This observation provides the impetus to develop Shp2 inhibitors for maintenance and amplification of ES cells in culture.展开更多
The role of Yamanaka factors as the core regulators in the induction of pluripotency during somatic cell reprogramming has been discovered recently. Our previous study found that Yamanaka factors regulate a developmen...The role of Yamanaka factors as the core regulators in the induction of pluripotency during somatic cell reprogramming has been discovered recently. Our previous study found that Yamanaka factors regulate a developmental signaling network in maintaining embryonic stem （ES） cell pluripotency. Here, we established completely reprogrammed induced pluripotent stem （iPS） cells and analyzed the global promoter occupancy of Yamanaka factors in these cells by ChiP-chip assays. We found that promoters of 565 genes were co-bound by four Yamanaka factors in iPS cells, a 10-fold increase when compared with their binding in ES cells. The promoters occupied by a single Yamanaka factor distributed equally in activated and repressed genes in iPS cells, while in ES cells Oct4, Sox2, or KIf4 distributed mostly in repressed genes and c-Myc in activated ones. Pathway analysis of the ChiP-chip data revealed that Yamanaka factors regulated 16 developmental signaling pathways in iPS cells, among which 12 were common and 4 were unique compared to pathways regulated in ES ChiP-chip dataset in iPS cells and observed similar results, cells. We further analyzed another recently published showing the power of ChiP-chip plus pathway analysis for revealing the nature of pluripotency maintenance and regeneration. Next, we experimentally tested one of the repressive signaling pathways and found that its inhibition indeed improved efficiency of cell reprogramming. Taken together, we proposed that there is a core developmental signaling network necessary for pluripotency, with TGF-β, Hedgehog, Wnt, p53 as repressive （Yin） regulators and Jak-STAT, cell cycle, focal adhesion, adherens junction as active （Yang） ones; and Yamanaka factors synergistically regulate them in a Yin-Yang balanced way to induce pluripotency.展开更多
An experiment was conducted and through distant hybridization a new promising forms of citruses were obtained. Namely, after hybridization of lemon Georgian and broad-leaved mandarin unshiu （mother components） with ...An experiment was conducted and through distant hybridization a new promising forms of citruses were obtained. Namely, after hybridization of lemon Georgian and broad-leaved mandarin unshiu （mother components） with early-ripening trifoliata and a hybrid of citrus ichangensis--＂Caucasus＂ （father components） a wide range of nucellar seedlings were obtained. It should be noted that nucellar seedlings of hybrid nature are practically closer to distant hybrids of sexual origin that are sharply inclined to the side of the mother component and produce good quality fruit. Unfortunately, such hybrids are either very rare or cannot be obtained at all. While, in the case of the study, through using new combinations in hybridization, the possibility of getting nucellar seedlings of the hybrid nature is much bigger. Distant hybridization turned out to be particularly interesting because of the polyembryony of citrus plants. Due to this, it gives opportunity to get new promising forms not only from the egg cell but from nucellar cells as well.展开更多
Long-term in vitro maintenance of embryonic stem cell (ESC) pluripotency enables the pluripotency and differentiation of ESCs in animals to be investigated. The ability to successfully maintain and differentiate chick...Long-term in vitro maintenance of embryonic stem cell (ESC) pluripotency enables the pluripotency and differentiation of ESCs in animals to be investigated. The ability to successfully maintain and differentiate chicken embryonic stem cells (cESCs) would provide a useful tool for avian biology research and would be a resource directly applicable to agricultural production. In this study, endogenous chicken pluripotency transcription factors, POUV, Sox-2, Nanog and Lin28 were cloned and expressed as recombinant proteins containing a nine consecutive arginine protein transduction domain (PTD). cESCs were cultured with these recombinant proteins to maintain cESC pluripotency in vitro. Cultured cESCs exhibited typical characteristics of pluripotency, even after six generations of rapid doubling, including positive staining for stage-specific embryonic antigen I, and strong staining for alkaline phosphatase. Expression levels of the pluripotency markers, POUV, Nanog, C-Myc, Sox-2 and Lin28 were the same as in uncultured stage X blastoderm cells, and most significantly, the formation of embryoid bodies (EBs) by 6th generation cESCs confirmed the ability of these cultured cESCs to differentiate into cells of all three embryonic germ layers. Thus, transcription factors could be translocated through the cell membrane into the intracellular space of cESCs by using a PTD of nine consecutive arginines and the pluripotency of cESCs could be maintained in vitro for at least six generations.展开更多
The African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis, has long been a model animal for the studies in the fields of animal cloning, developmental biology, biochemistry, cell biology, and physiology. With the aid of Xenopus, major ...The African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis, has long been a model animal for the studies in the fields of animal cloning, developmental biology, biochemistry, cell biology, and physiology. With the aid of Xenopus, major molecular mechanisms that are involved in embryonic development have been understood. Germ layer formation is the first event of embryonic cellular differentiation, which is induced by a few key maternal factors and subsequently by zygotic signals. Meanwhile, another type of signals, the pluripotency factors in ES cells, which maintain the undifferentiated state, are also present during early embryonic cells. In this review, the functions of the pluripotency factors during Xenopus germ layer formation and the regulatory relationship between the signals that promote differentiation and pluripotency factors are discussed.展开更多
We prove that there are only finitely many diffeomorphism types of curvature-adapted equifocal hypersurfaces in a simply connected compact symmetric space.Moreover,if the symmetric space is of rank one,the result can ...We prove that there are only finitely many diffeomorphism types of curvature-adapted equifocal hypersurfaces in a simply connected compact symmetric space.Moreover,if the symmetric space is of rank one,the result can be strengthened by dropping the condition curvature-adapted.展开更多
The generation of red blood cells(RBCs)from stem cells provides a solution for deficiencies in blood transfusion.Currently,primary hematopoietic stem cells,embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells have ...The generation of red blood cells(RBCs)from stem cells provides a solution for deficiencies in blood transfusion.Currently,primary hematopoietic stem cells,embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells have shown the potential to produce fully mature RBCs.Here,we discuss the advantages,induction protocols,progress and possible clinical applications of stem cells in RBC production.展开更多
文摘A key issue to be addressed in stem cell biology is the molecular signaling mechanism controlling embryonic stem （ES） cell pluripotency. Stem cell properties are dictated by specific transcription factors and epigenetic processes such as DNA methylation and chromatin remodeling. Several cytokines/growth factors have been identified as critical ES cell regulators. However, there is a gap in our knowledge of the intracellular signaling pathways linking extracellular signals to transcriptional regulation in ES cells. This short review discusses the physiological role of Shp2, a cytoplasmic tyro- sine phosphatase, in the molecular switch governing ES cell self-renewal versus differentiation. Shp2 promotes ES cell differentiation, mainly through bi-directional modulation of Erk and Stat3 pathways. Deletion of Shp2 in mouse ES cells results in more efficient self-renewal. This observation provides the impetus to develop Shp2 inhibitors for maintenance and amplification of ES cells in culture.
文摘The role of Yamanaka factors as the core regulators in the induction of pluripotency during somatic cell reprogramming has been discovered recently. Our previous study found that Yamanaka factors regulate a developmental signaling network in maintaining embryonic stem （ES） cell pluripotency. Here, we established completely reprogrammed induced pluripotent stem （iPS） cells and analyzed the global promoter occupancy of Yamanaka factors in these cells by ChiP-chip assays. We found that promoters of 565 genes were co-bound by four Yamanaka factors in iPS cells, a 10-fold increase when compared with their binding in ES cells. The promoters occupied by a single Yamanaka factor distributed equally in activated and repressed genes in iPS cells, while in ES cells Oct4, Sox2, or KIf4 distributed mostly in repressed genes and c-Myc in activated ones. Pathway analysis of the ChiP-chip data revealed that Yamanaka factors regulated 16 developmental signaling pathways in iPS cells, among which 12 were common and 4 were unique compared to pathways regulated in ES ChiP-chip dataset in iPS cells and observed similar results, cells. We further analyzed another recently published showing the power of ChiP-chip plus pathway analysis for revealing the nature of pluripotency maintenance and regeneration. Next, we experimentally tested one of the repressive signaling pathways and found that its inhibition indeed improved efficiency of cell reprogramming. Taken together, we proposed that there is a core developmental signaling network necessary for pluripotency, with TGF-β, Hedgehog, Wnt, p53 as repressive （Yin） regulators and Jak-STAT, cell cycle, focal adhesion, adherens junction as active （Yang） ones; and Yamanaka factors synergistically regulate them in a Yin-Yang balanced way to induce pluripotency.
文摘An experiment was conducted and through distant hybridization a new promising forms of citruses were obtained. Namely, after hybridization of lemon Georgian and broad-leaved mandarin unshiu （mother components） with early-ripening trifoliata and a hybrid of citrus ichangensis--＂Caucasus＂ （father components） a wide range of nucellar seedlings were obtained. It should be noted that nucellar seedlings of hybrid nature are practically closer to distant hybrids of sexual origin that are sharply inclined to the side of the mother component and produce good quality fruit. Unfortunately, such hybrids are either very rare or cannot be obtained at all. While, in the case of the study, through using new combinations in hybridization, the possibility of getting nucellar seedlings of the hybrid nature is much bigger. Distant hybridization turned out to be particularly interesting because of the polyembryony of citrus plants. Due to this, it gives opportunity to get new promising forms not only from the egg cell but from nucellar cells as well.
基金assisted by the National Key Lab of Agro Biotechnology
文摘Long-term in vitro maintenance of embryonic stem cell (ESC) pluripotency enables the pluripotency and differentiation of ESCs in animals to be investigated. The ability to successfully maintain and differentiate chicken embryonic stem cells (cESCs) would provide a useful tool for avian biology research and would be a resource directly applicable to agricultural production. In this study, endogenous chicken pluripotency transcription factors, POUV, Sox-2, Nanog and Lin28 were cloned and expressed as recombinant proteins containing a nine consecutive arginine protein transduction domain (PTD). cESCs were cultured with these recombinant proteins to maintain cESC pluripotency in vitro. Cultured cESCs exhibited typical characteristics of pluripotency, even after six generations of rapid doubling, including positive staining for stage-specific embryonic antigen I, and strong staining for alkaline phosphatase. Expression levels of the pluripotency markers, POUV, Nanog, C-Myc, Sox-2 and Lin28 were the same as in uncultured stage X blastoderm cells, and most significantly, the formation of embryoid bodies (EBs) by 6th generation cESCs confirmed the ability of these cultured cESCs to differentiate into cells of all three embryonic germ layers. Thus, transcription factors could be translocated through the cell membrane into the intracellular space of cESCs by using a PTD of nine consecutive arginines and the pluripotency of cESCs could be maintained in vitro for at least six generations.
基金supported by the National Basic Research Program of China(2011CB943804,2014CB964701)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31271544,31261160492)to Cao Ying
文摘The African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis, has long been a model animal for the studies in the fields of animal cloning, developmental biology, biochemistry, cell biology, and physiology. With the aid of Xenopus, major molecular mechanisms that are involved in embryonic development have been understood. Germ layer formation is the first event of embryonic cellular differentiation, which is induced by a few key maternal factors and subsequently by zygotic signals. Meanwhile, another type of signals, the pluripotency factors in ES cells, which maintain the undifferentiated state, are also present during early embryonic cells. In this review, the functions of the pluripotency factors during Xenopus germ layer formation and the regulatory relationship between the signals that promote differentiation and pluripotency factors are discussed.
基金supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.11071018 and 11001016)the Specialized Research Fund for Doctoral Program of Higher Education(Grant No.20100003120003)the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University
文摘We prove that there are only finitely many diffeomorphism types of curvature-adapted equifocal hypersurfaces in a simply connected compact symmetric space.Moreover,if the symmetric space is of rank one,the result can be strengthened by dropping the condition curvature-adapted.
基金supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China(2013AA020107)National Basic Research Program of China(2011CB964804)National Natural Science Foundation of China(31101040)
文摘The generation of red blood cells(RBCs)from stem cells provides a solution for deficiencies in blood transfusion.Currently,primary hematopoietic stem cells,embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells have shown the potential to produce fully mature RBCs.Here,we discuss the advantages,induction protocols,progress and possible clinical applications of stem cells in RBC production.
