Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 8 Medical Drive, Singapore 117597, Singapore.
Biosci Rep. 2011 Apr;31(2):77-86. doi: 10.1042/BSR20100089.
ES cells (embryonic stem cells) derived from the ICM (inner cell mass) of blastocysts are pluripotent and are capable of giving rise to most cell types. The ES cell identity is mainly maintained by the Oct4 (octamer-binding transcription factor 4) and Nanog transcriptional networks. Recently, a tremendous amount of work has focused on deciphering how ES cell identity is regulated epigenetically. It has been shown that histone methylation/demethylation, histone acetylation/deacetylation, histone variants and chromatin remodelling play crucial roles in ES cell maintenance and differentiation. Moreover, perturbation of those chromatin regulators results in loss of ES cell identity or aberrant differentiation. Therefore, it is important to fully understand the chromatin regulation landscape of ES cells. The knowledge gained will help us to harness the unique characteristics of ES cells for stem cell-related therapy and regenerative medicine. In the present review, we will discuss recent proceedings that provide novel insights into chromatin regulation of ES cell identity.
胚胎干细胞（ES 细胞）来源于囊胚的内细胞团（ICM），具有多能性，能够分化为大多数细胞类型。ES 细胞的特性主要由 Oct4（八聚体结合转录因子 4）和 Nanog 转录网络维持。最近，大量的工作集中在解析 ES 细胞特性如何在表观遗传水平上受到调控。已经表明，组蛋白甲基化/去甲基化、组蛋白乙酰化/去乙酰化、组蛋白变体和染色质重塑在 ES 细胞维持和分化中起着至关重要的作用。此外，这些染色质调节剂的扰动会导致 ES 细胞特性的丧失或异常分化。因此，充分了解 ES 细胞的染色质调控景观非常重要。所获得的知识将有助于我们利用 ES 细胞的独特特性进行与干细胞相关的治疗和再生医学。在本综述中，我们将讨论最近的研究进展，这些进展为 ES 细胞特性的染色质调控提供了新的见解。
