Decrease in the c-myb gene transcript during differentiation of mouse teratocarcinoma stem cells.

Transcript of the c-myb gene, one of the proto-oncogenes, was clearly detected in undifferentiated mouse F9 teratocarcinoma stem cells, but not in terminally differentiated mouse parietal endoderm PYS-2 cells. As F9 cells can be induced to differentiate into parietal endoderm-like cells by the addition of retinoic acid and dibutyryl cAMP, we examined levels of the c-myb transcript under this experimental condition and found that the c-myb transcript was decreased significantly. Thus, a decrease in the c-myb transcript is probably related to early differentiation of mammalian cells.