Directed differentiation of human embryonic stem cells to interrogate the cardiac gene regulatory network.

ABSTRACT: The limited ability of the heart to regenerate has prompted development of new systems to produce cardiomyocytes for therapeutics. While differentiation of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) into cardiomyocytes has been well documented, the process remains inefficient and/or expensive, and progress would be facilitated by better understanding the early genetic events that cause cardiac specification. By maintaining a transgenic cardiac-specific MYH6-monomeric red fluorescent protein (mRFP) reporter hESC line in conditions that promote pluripotency, we tested the ability of combinations of 15 genes to induce cardiac specification. Screening identified GATA4 plus TBX5 as the minimum requirement to activate the cardiac gene regulatory network and produce mRFP(+) cells, while a combination of

SUBMITTER: Dixon JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3182351 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature