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Related Concept Videos

Maintenance of the ES Cell State01:14

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The cells of the blastocyst inner cell mass only remain pluripotent for a short time. This state of pluripotency and self-renewal can be maintained in embryonic stem (ES) cell culture by adding specific chemicals or growth factors to ensure the cells can continue dividing and later differentiate into different cell types. In some cases, the cells are grown on a feeder layer of differentiated cells, which provides the growth factors and extracellular matrix components necessary for stem cell...
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Reprogramming alters the gene expression in somatic cells, transforming them into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells over several generations. Scientists can reprogram cells by introducing genes for four transcription factors—Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc (OSKM) by viral or non-viral methods. These factors are also known as Yamanaka factors after Shinya Yamanaka, who first generated iPS cells using mouse skin cells. Yamanaka was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2012...
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Master transcription regulators are regulatory proteins that are predominantly responsible for regulating the expression of multiple genes. Often these genes work in concert to drive a  complex process. Activation of a master transcription regulator can lead to a cascade of transcriptional activation necessary for that outcome. These regulators can directly bind to the regulatory sequences of the various genes involved, or they can indirectly regulate transcription by binding to regulatory...
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Proteins that regulate transcription can do so either via direct contact with RNA Polymerase or through indirect interactions facilitated by adaptors, mediators, histone-modifying proteins, and nucleosome remodelers. Direct interactions to activate transcription is seen in bacteria as well as in some eukaryotic genes. In these cases, upstream activation sequences are adjacent to the promoters, and the activator proteins interact directly with the transcriptional machinery. For example, in...
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During embryogenesis, cells become progressively committed to different fates through a two-step process: specification followed by determination. Specification is demonstrated by removing a segment of an early embryo, “neutrally” culturing the tissue in vitro—for example, in a petri dish with simple medium—and then observing the derivatives. If the cultured region gives rise to cell types that it would normally generate in the embryo, this means that it is specified. In...
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 18, 2026

Identification of Enhancer-Promoter Contacts in Embryoid Bodies by Quantitative Chromosome Conformation Capture 4C
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A transcribed enhancer dictates mesendoderm specification in pluripotency.

Michael Alexanian1, Daniel Maric1, Stephen P Jenkinson2

  • 1Experimental Cardiology Unit, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Lausanne Medical School, 1011, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Nature Communications
|November 29, 2017
PubMed
Summary

This study reveals how enhancers and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) orchestrate mesendoderm development. A key enhancer, Meteor, is essential for this process and influences cell fate decisions in embryonic stem cells (ESCs).

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Area of Science:

  • Developmental Biology
  • Genomics
  • Epigenetics

Background:

  • Enhancers and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are critical for cell lineage specification during embryonic development.
  • Understanding the dynamic interplay between these elements during early differentiation is crucial for deciphering developmental processes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the remodeling of the enhancer landscape and lncRNA transcriptome during mesendoderm specification.
  • To identify novel regulatory elements controlling this developmental transition.

Main Methods:

  • Sorting mesendodermal progenitors from differentiating embryonic stem cells (ESCs) based on Eomes expression.
  • Analyzing enhancer usage and lncRNA expression profiles.
  • Utilizing genetic and epigenetic manipulation to assess the function of identified regulatory regions, including the Meteor enhancer.

Main Results:

  • Enhancer usage is coordinated with the expression of key transcription factors during mesendoderm specification.
  • A novel enhancer, MesEndoderm Transcriptional Enhancer Organizing Region (Meteor), was identified and found to be indispensable for mesendoderm specification and cardiogenic differentiation.
  • Deletion of Meteor redirected ESCs towards neuroectodermal lineages, highlighting its role in developmental competence.

Conclusions:

  • The study identifies Meteor as a critical regulator of mesendoderm development, acting through both transcription-dependent and -independent mechanisms.
  • Topologically associating transcribed enhancers with protein-coding genes represent a class of genomic elements that control developmental competence in pluripotency.