D'Amour Kevin A, Gage Fred H
Laboratory of Genetics, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 10010 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003 Sep 30;100 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):11866-72. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1834200100. Epub 2003 Aug 15.
Stem cells (SCs) are functionally defined by their abilities to self-renew and generate differentiated cells. Although much effort has been focused on defining the common characteristics among various types of SCs, the genetic and functional differences between multipotent and pluripotent SCs have garnered less attention. We report a direct genetic and functional comparison of molecularly defined and clonally related populations of neural SCs (NSCs) and embryonic SCs (ESCs), using the Sox2 promoter for isolation of purified populations by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. A stringent expression profile comparison of promoter-defined NSCs and ESCs revealed a striking dissimilarity, and subsequent chimera analyses confirmed the fundamental differences in cellular potency between these populations. This direct comparison elucidates the molecular basis for the functional differences in pluripotent ESCs and multipotent NSCs.
干细胞（SCs）在功能上是由其自我更新和产生分化细胞的能力所定义的。尽管人们付出了很多努力来界定各类干细胞的共同特征，但多能干细胞和全能干细胞之间的基因及功能差异却较少受到关注。我们报告了一项对分子定义且克隆相关的神经干细胞（NSCs）和胚胎干细胞（ESCs）群体进行直接基因和功能比较的研究，使用Sox2启动子通过荧光激活细胞分选来分离纯化群体。对启动子定义的神经干细胞和胚胎干细胞进行严格的表达谱比较，结果显示出显著差异，随后的嵌合体分析证实了这些群体在细胞潜能上的根本差异。这种直接比较阐明了全能胚胎干细胞和多能神经干细胞功能差异的分子基础。
