@article{0b22b961d96d4d57b9770055a1e8db2d,
title = "Transcriptional Activation by Oct4 Is Sufficient for the Maintenance and Induction of Pluripotency",
abstract = "Oct4 is an essential regulator of pluripotency in vivo and in vitro in embryonic stem cells, as well as a key mediator of the reprogramming of somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem cells. It is not known whether activation and/or repression of specific genes by Oct4 is relevant to these functions. Here, we show that fusion proteins containing the coding sequence of Oct4 or Xlpou91 (the . Xenopus homolog of Oct4) fused to activating regions, but not those fused to repressing regions, behave as Oct4, suppressing differentiation and promoting maintenance of undifferentiated phenotypes in vivo and in vitro. An Oct4 activation domain fusion supported embryonic stem cell self-renewal in vitro at lower concentrations than that required for Oct4 while alleviating the ordinary requirement for the cytokine LIF. At still lower levels of the fusion, LIF dependence was restored. We conclude that the necessary and sufficient function of Oct4 in promoting pluripotency is to activate specific target genes.",
author = "Fella Hammachi and Morrison, {Gillian M.} and Sharov, {Alexei A.} and Alessandra Livigni and Santosh Narayan and Papapetrou, {Eirini P.} and James O'Malley and Keisuke Kaji and Ko, {Minoru S.H.} and Mark Ptashne and Brickman, {Joshua M.}",
note = "Funding Information: We would like to thank Hitoshi Niwa and Austin Smith for provision of materials; Laxmi M.S. Tirunagari for technical assistance; Michel Sadelain for advice; and Alfonso Martinez Arias, Sally Lowell, Val Wilson, and the entire Brickman and Ptashne labs for critical reading of this manuscript. This work was supported by the BBSRC (BB/C506605), Scottish Funding Council, the Medical Research Council (MRC G0701428) (to J.M.B.), the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, the National Institute on Aging (Z01AG AG000656, Z01AG000662) (to M.S.H.K.), and the New York Stem Cell Science (NYSTEM) Program (C026407) (to M.P.). F.H. was supported by a scholarship from the Algerian Government. J.M.B. is an MRC Senior Non-Clinical Research Fellow. ",
year = "2012",
month = feb,
day = "23",
doi = "10.1016/j.celrep.2011.12.002",
language = "English",
volume = "1",
pages = "99--109",
journal = "Cell Reports",
issn = "2211-1247",
publisher = "Cell Press",
number = "2",
}