Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 22, 2026

Epigenetic Regulation of Cardiac Differentiation of Embryonic Stem Cells and Tissues
13:03

Epigenetic Regulation of Cardiac Differentiation of Embryonic Stem Cells and Tissues

Published on: June 3, 2016

8.6K

E2F4 regulates transcriptional activation in mouse embryonic stem cells independently of the RB family

Jenny Hsu1,2, Julia Arand1,2, Andrea Chaikovsky1,2

  • 1Department of Pediatrics, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.

Nature Communications
|July 5, 2019
PubMed

Insights

E2F4 (E2F transcription factor 4) promotes mouse embryonic stem cell proliferation and survival by activating cell cycle genes, independent of RB family interactions. This reveals a novel role for E2F4 in rapidly dividing cells.

Area of Science:

  • Molecular Biology
  • Cell Biology
  • Genetics

Background:

  • E2F transcription factors regulate cell division and cell fate.
  • E2F4 is typically a transcriptional repressor interacting with RB family proteins, associated with cell cycle arrest.
  • E2F4 is the predominant E2F activity in many cell types.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of E2F4 in mouse embryonic stem cell (mESC) proliferation and survival.
  • To elucidate the mechanism by which E2F4 influences cell cycle gene expression in mESCs.
  • To determine if E2F4's function in mESCs is dependent on the RB family.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of E2F4 function in mouse embryonic stem cells.
  • Investigation of E2F4's interaction with RB family proteins.
  • Assessment of E2F4's role in gene activation and chromatin modification (histone acetylation) at target gene promoters.
  • Studies in RB family-mutant cells to assess E2F4 function.

Main Results:

  • E2F4 is crucial for the proliferation and survival of mouse embryonic stem cells.
  • In mESCs, E2F4 functions as a transcriptional activator, promoting cell cycle gene expression independently of the RB family.
  • E2F4 interacts with chromatin regulators involved in gene activation.
  • Loss of E2F4 leads to decreased histone acetylation at cell cycle gene promoters in RB family-mutant cells.

Conclusions:

  • E2F4 plays a non-canonical role as a transcriptional activator in mouse embryonic stem cells.
  • This function of E2F4 is essential for the proliferation and survival of rapidly dividing cells.
  • E2F4's role in gene activation involves interaction with chromatin-modifying complexes.

More Related Videos

Derivation of Hematopoietic Stem Cells from Murine Embryonic Stem Cells22:06

Derivation of Hematopoietic Stem Cells from Murine Embryonic Stem Cells

Published on: February 25, 2007

14.0K
Reprogramming Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts with Transcription Factors to Induce a Hemogenic Program11:00

Reprogramming Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts with Transcription Factors to Induce a Hemogenic Program

Published on: December 16, 2016

7.6K

Related Concept Videos

Master Transcription Regulators02:23

Master Transcription Regulators

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...
7.7K
Master Transcription Regulators02:23

Master Transcription Regulators

2.7K
Embryonic Stem Cells00:58

Embryonic Stem Cells

Embryonic stem (ES) cells are undifferentiated pluripotent cells, meaning they can produce any cell type in the body. This gives them tremendous potential in science and medicine since they can generate specific cell types for use in research or to replace body cells lost due to damage or disease.
32.1K
Embryonic Stem Cells00:57

Embryonic Stem Cells

Embryonic stem (ES) cells were first discovered in mice in 1981 by Martin Evans. In 1998, James Thomson identified a method to isolate embryonic stem cells from humans. Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are obtained from 3-5 day old embryos that remain unused after an in vitro fertilization procedure.
ES cells are grown in a culture medium where they can divide indefinitely, creating ES cell lines. Under certain conditions, ES cells can differentiate, either spontaneously into a variety of...
4.8K
Eukaryotic Transcription Activators02:42

Eukaryotic Transcription Activators

Transcription activators are proteins that promote the transcription of genes from DNA to RNA. In most cases, these proteins contain two separate domains ‒ a domain that binds to DNA and a domain for activating transcription; however, in some cases, a single domain is responsible for both binding and activation of transcription, as seen in the glucocorticoid receptor and MyoD.
The binding domains are capable of recognizing and interacting with regulatory sequences on the DNA. These...
12.6K
Cooperative Binding of Transcription Regulators02:13

Cooperative Binding of Transcription Regulators

Transcriptional regulators bind to specific cis-regulatory sequences in the DNA to regulate gene transcription. These cis-regulatory sequences are very short, usually less than ten nucleotide pairs in length. The short length means that there is a high probability of the exact same sequence randomly occurring throughout the genome.  Since regulators can also bind to groups of similar sequences, this further increases the chances of random binding. Transcriptional regulators form...
7.2K