Expression of Psx1 during Differentiation of Embryonic Germ Cells from Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells
Pursuit of our goal to study the mechanism of cell fate decision, it is essential to investigate a repertoire of genes expressed specifically in the cell type of interest, which still remains unexplored. The homeodomain gene Psx1 on the X chromosome is expressed highly in both the placenta and the developing gonad. Despite our original hypothesis that Psx1 is responsible for the differentiation of trophoblast cell lineages, previously we have found that disruption of the homeodomain on the Psx1 locus in the genome caused development of infertile male mice. Therefore, we hypothesize that Psx1 plays an important role in gonad differentiation. To test our hypothesis, we take an advantage of the in vitro culture system using the embryonic stem cell (ESC) and the method to direct differentiation of ESCs toward the germ cell lineage. When the differentiation of ESCs overexpressing Psx1 is induced we found that the number of germ cell-like cells was increased, although this result was obtained from a single experiment. Therefore, our results indicate that Psx1 plays an important role in the differentiation of germ cells. Our proposed research may lead us to understanding the function of Psx1 for the male germ cell differentiation, which is important for elucidating causes of and a cure for male infertility.
School:
University of Puerto Rico at Bayamón
Department:
Human Biology
Research Advisor:
Tetsuya Tanaka
Department of Research Advisor:
Animal Sciences
Year of Publication:
2008