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Updated: Aug 22, 2025

Co-localization of Cell Lineage Markers and the Tomato Signal
Published on: December 28, 2016
Establishment of a human pluripotent stem cell-derived MKX-td Tomato reporter system
Yuki Fujisawa1, Lu Ming1, Daisuke Yamada1
1Department of Regenerative Science, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, 700-8558, Japan.
Abstract:
Tendon regeneration is difficult because detailed knowledge about tendon progenitor cells (TPCs), which produce tenocytes to repair tendon tissue, has not been revealed. Mohawk homeobox (MKX) is a marker of TPCs or tenocytes, but a human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-based reporter system that visualizes MKX+ cells has not been developed. Here, we established an hPSC-derived MKX-tdTomato reporter cell line and tested the induction ratio of MKX-tdTomato+ cells using our stepwise/xeno-free differentiation protocol. MKX-tdTomato+ cells were generated with high efficiency and expressed tendon-specific markers, including MKX, SCX, TNMD, and COL1A1. Our MKX-tdTomato hPSC line would be a useful tool for studying the development or regeneration of tendon tissue.

