β-catenin mediates endodermal commitment of human ES cells via distinct transactivation functions

Activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling is pivotal to the formation of definitive endoderm (DE) lineage during early embryonic development, but its regulatory mechanism was not yet fully understood. In this study, we generated new CTNNB1-/- human ES cells (hESC) through CRISPR-based insertional gene disruption approach and performed systematic rescue using various truncated or mutant β-catenin to study the Wnt/β-catenin-centered cellular mechanisms underlying DE differentiation from hESC. We used RNA-seq to examine the transcriptional information to understand the functions of β-catenin. Gene expression profiling analysis of RNA-seq data for CTNNB1 knockout hESC and the rescue cell clones by variant β-catenin mutants.