A novel member of Prame family, Gm12794c, counteracts retinoic acid differentiation through the methyltransferase activity of PRC2.

ABSTRACT: Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) fluctuate among different levels of pluripotency defined as metastates. Sporadically, metastable cellular populations convert to a highly pluripotent metastate that resembles the preimplantation two-cell embryos stage (defined as 2C stage) in terms of transcriptome, DNA methylation, and chromatin structure. Recently, we found that the retinoic acid (RA) signaling leads to a robust increase of cells specifically expressing 2C genes, such as members of the Prame family. Here, we show that Gm12794c, one of the most highly upregulated Prame members, and previously identified as a key player for the maintenance of pluripotency, has a functional role in conferring ESCs resistance to RA signaling. In particular, RA-dependent expression of Gm12794c induces a ground stat

SUBMITTER: Napolitano G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7206114 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature