Geminin represses mesendoderm cell fate acquisition in embryoid bodies. Mus musculus

Geminin is a small nucleoprotein that neuralizes ectoderm in the Xenopus embryo. Geminin promotes neural fate acquisition of mouse embryonic stem cells: Geminin knockdown during neural fate acquisition decreased expression of neural precursor cell markers (Pax6, Sox1), while increasing expression of Pitx2, Lefty1 and Cited2, genes involved in formation of the mouse node. Here we differentiated mouse embryonic stem cells into embryoid bodies to study Geminin's ability to repress primitive streak mesendoderm fate acquisition. We used microarrays to define the sets of genes that are regulated by Geminin during cell fate acquisition in embryoid bodies, using Dox-inducible Geminin knockdown or overexpression mouse embryonic stem cell lines. Overall design: ES cell lines for Geminin over-expression (GemOE) were treated without or with Dox from day 3 to day 5 of EB differentiation and were collected on days 4 or 5 for microarray analysis. Gem knockdown (KD) ES cell lines were treated without or with Dox from day 0 to day 4 of EB differentiation and were collected on day 4 for microarray analysis.