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A molecular signature for embryonic and adult neural crest stem cells
Author(s) -
Hu Yao Fei,
SieberBlum Maya
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.20.5.a872-d
Subject(s) - neural crest , stem cell , biology , embryonic stem cell , neural stem cell , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , gene , embryo
We show that the expression profile of adult epidermal neural crest stem cells (EPI‐NCSC, formerly eNCSC; Sieber‐Blum et al., 2004) is closely related to that of embryonic neural crest stem cells (NCSC), but diverges from that of other skin‐derived stem cells. We have generated and analyzed three LongSAGE libraries using mRNA from mouse NCSC, in vitro differentiated neural crest derivatives, and EPI‐NCSC, respectively. After elimination of molecular backbone genes, 68% of unambiguous EPI‐NCSC sequences were also present in the embryonic NCSC profile. By contrast, when sequences highly expressed both in NCSC and EPI‐NCSC were compared to a gene profile for bulge epidermal stem cells (Tumbar T et al., 2004) there were 1.1% common genes only. Library comparisons and statistical analyses provided a molecular neural crest signature, i.e. a panel of genes that fulfills the following criteria: significantly high expressed both in embryonic NCSC and EPI‐NCSC compared to differentiated neural crest derivatives and absent in bulge epidermal stem cells. Comparison of the molecular neural crest stem cell signature to data for skin derived precursors (SKP; Toma JG et al., 2001; Fernandes KJ et al., 2004) indicate that neither back skin nor facial (i.e., neural crest‐derived) dermal papillae contain multipotent neural crest stem cells. Likewise EPI‐NCSC are distinctly different from Sca‐1 positive putative adipocyte progenitors (Wolnicka‐Glubisz A et al., 2005). Taken together, this study represents the first transcriptome for this new type of adult stem cell, and it provides a valuable database for future neural crest stem cell research. Support: USPHS grant NS38500, NIH (MSB).