Main Category: Stem Cell Research
Also Included In: Genetics
Article Date: 04 Jul 2013 – 2:00 PDT
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Scientists at A*STAR’s Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) and the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics (MPIMG) in Berlin (Germany) have discovered a molecular network in human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) that integrates cell communication signals to keep the cell in its stem cell state. These findings were reported in the June 2013 issue of Molecular Cell.
“A remarkable feature of this study is, how the information was extracted by computational means from the experimental data,” said Prof Martin Vingron from MPIMG and co-author of this study.
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The ERK signaling pathway involves an additional protein, ELK1 which interacts with ERK2 to activate the genetic information. Interestingly, the team also discovered that ELK1 has a second, totally opposite function. At genomic sites which are not targeted by ERK signaling, ELK1 silences genetic information, thereby keeping the cell in its undifferentiated state. The authors propose a model that integrates this bi-directional control to keep the cell in the stem cell state.
Cell communication is of key importance in multicellular organisms. For example, the coordinated development of tissues in the embryo to become any specific organ requires that cells receive signals and respond accordingly. If there are errors in the signals, the cell will respond differently, possibly leading to diseases such as cancer. The communication signals which are used in hESCs activate a chain of reactions (called the extracellular regulated kinase (ERK) pathway) within each cell, causing the cell to respond by activating genetic information.
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Genome Institute Of Singapore Scientists Discover Molecular Communication Network In Human Stem Cells