Mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) are pluripotent cells capable of differentiating into all three germ layers present in the adult mouse. In this thesis, I have investigated the transcriptional changes that mESCs undergo as they are induced to differentiate towards the mesoderm lineage by 2i/LIF withdrawal and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) treatment. 5 days of differentiation causes significant drops in expression of Sox2 and Oct4 primary transcript, while expression of Nanog and Kit significantly drops after only 1 day. It was determined that DMSO has no effect on the short-term changes in Nanog and Kit expression induced by 2i/LIF withdrawal. An expanded look at pluripotency-associated genes shows significant up-regulation of Oct4 and down-regulation of Klf4 and Stat3 following only 6 hours of 2i/LIF withdrawal. This data indicates that while some aspects of the transcriptional networks underlying pluripotency respond quickly to mesodermal differentiation cues, others remain unchanged for up to 5 days.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:OTU.1807/33522 |
| Date | 26 November 2012 |
| Creators | Schwartz, Michael Louis |
| Contributors | Mitchell, Jennifer |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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