Discovery of novel imprinted genes by transcriptional analysis of parthenogenetic embryonic stem cells

Parthenogenetic embryonic stem cells (PESCs) may have future utility in cell replacement therapies. We examined genome-wide mRNA expression profiles of monkey PESCs relative to ESCs derived from fertilized embryos. Several known paternally-imprinted genes were in the highly down-regulated group in PESCs compared to ESCs. Allele specific expression analysis of paternally-imprinted genes, i.e., those genes whose expression is down-regulated in PESCs, led to the identification of one novel candidate that was exclusively expressed from a paternal allele. Our findings suggest that PESCs could be used as a model for studying genomic imprinting and in the discovery of novel imprinted genes. Keywords: gene expression The transcriptomes of rhesus monkey embryonic stem cell lines derived from IVF-produced embryos (Oregon Rhesus Macaque Embryonic Stem, ORMES-22) were compared with rhesus monkey parthenogenetic embryonic stem cell lines (heterozygous rhesus Parthenogenetic embryonic stem cell lines, rPESC-2) and homozygous rhesus Parthenogenetic embryonic stem cell lines, ORMES-9). Moreover, the transcriptomes of rPESC-2 line were also compared with ORMES-9. Finally, the adult somatic skin fibroblasts were analyzed. Three biological replicates of each cell line (A, B, C) were analyzed.