Open AccessHuman amniotic epithelial cell feeder layers maintain mouse embryonic stem cell pluripotency via epigenetic regulation of the <italic>c-Myc</italic> promoter
Author(s) -
Te Liu,
Weiwei Cheng,
Tianjin Liu,
Lihe Guo,
Qin Huang,
LiYun Jiang,
Xin Du,
Fuhui Xu,
Zhixue Liu,
Dongmei Lai
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
acta biochimica et biophysica sinica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.771
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1745-7270
pISSN - 1672-9145
DOI - 10.1093/abbs/gmp115
Subject(s) - embryonic stem cell , microbiology and biotechnology , epigenetics , biology , histone , histone h3 , cellular differentiation , stem cell , dna methylation , chemistry , gene expression , gene , genetics
Mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are typically cultured on a feeder layer of mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs), with leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) added to maintain them in an undifferentiated state. We have previously shown that human amniotic epithelial cells (hAECs) can be used as feeder cells to maintain mouse ESC pluripotency, but the mechanism for this is unknown. In the present study, we found that CpG islands 5' of the c-Myc gene remain hypomethylated in mouse ESCs cultured on hAECs. In addition, levels of acetylation of histone H3 and trimethylation of histone H3K4 in the c-Myc gene promoter were higher in ES cells cultured on hAECs than those in ES cells cultured on MEFs. These data suggested that hAECs can alter mouse ESC gene expression via epigenetic modification of c-Myc, providing a possible mechanism for the hAEC-induced maintenance of ESCs in an undifferentiated state.