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Updated: May 7, 2026

Identifying Cell Surface Markers of Primary Neural Stem and Progenitor Cells by Metabolic Labeling of Sialoglycan
Published on: September 7, 2019
Cell recognition molecule L1 promotes embryonic stem cell differentiation through the regulation of cell surface
Ying Li1, Xiaohua Huang, Yue An
1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116044, China; Department of Clinical Laboratory, Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116023, China.
Abstract:
Cell recognition molecule L1 (CD171) plays an important role in neuronal survival, migration, differentiation, neurite outgrowth, myelination, synaptic plasticity and regeneration after injury. Our previous study has demonstrated that overexpressing L1 enhances cell survival and proliferation of mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) through promoting the expression of FUT9 and ST3Gal4, which upregulates cell surface sialylation and fucosylation. In the present study, we examined whether sialylation and fucosylation are involved in ESC differentiation through L1 signaling. RNA interference analysis showed that L1 enhanced differentiation of ESCs into neurons through the upregulation of FUT9 and ST3Gal4. Furthermore, blocking the phospholipase Cγ (PLCγ) signaling pathway with either a specific PLCγ inhibitor or knockdown PLCγ reduced the expression levels of both FUT9 and ST3Gal4 mRNAs and inhibited L1-mediated neuronal differentiation. These results demonstrate that L1 promotes neuronal differentiation from ESCs through the L1-mediated enhancement of FUT9 and ST3Gal4 expression.
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