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In a paper published online by Nature, Ihor Lemischka and colleagues use a global approach to analyse the contribution of a large number of candidate genes important for regulating cell differentiation.
They use short hairpin RNAs to block candidate genes in embryonic stem (ES) cells, and identify seven genes important for self-renewal. They show how the products of these genes interact, and use gene expression analyses to show that blocking each one makes the ES cells differentiate into particular tissue types. These molecules may be important in endowing ES cells with their revered properties the ability to self-renew and the potential to make many other cell types. CONTACT Ihor Lemischka (Princeton University, NJ, USA)
E-mail: ilemischka@molbio.princeton.edu Abstract available online. (C) Nature press release.
Message posted by: Trevor M. D'Souza
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