PLURIPOTENCY REGULATOR ZIC3 IS AN EARLY LINEAGE SPECIFIER

Sustained expression of the key pluripotency transcriptional regulators and proliferative factors is needed for the maintenance of embryonic stem cells and early progenitors of various lineages. Zic3 is one of those factors which has been shown to be important for embryonic stem cell pluripotency. Through combinatorial analysis of transcription factor binding sites and the corresponding gene-regulation, we show that Zic3 not only activates key pluripotency genes but also acts cooperatively with them in connecting important circuits of regulation in ES cell in proliferation and maintenance of early progenitors.