X-inactivation reveals epigenetic anomalies in most hESC but identifies sublines that initiate as expected.

ABSTRACT: The clinical and research value of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) depends upon maintaining their epigenetically naïve, fully undifferentiated state. Inactivation of one X chromosome in each cell of mammalian female embryos is a paradigm for one of the earliest steps in cell specialization through formation of facultative heterochromatin. Mouse ES cells are derived from the inner cell mass (ICM) of blastocyst stage embryos prior to X-inactivation, and cultured murine ES cells initiate this process only upon differentiation. Less is known about human X-inactivation during early development. To identify a human ES cell model for X-inactivation and study differences in the epigenetic state of hESC lines, we investigated X-inactivation in all growth competent, karyotypically normal, NIH appr

SUBMITTER: Hall LL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3057623 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature