Effect of L-Proline on mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs)

We found that the non-essential amino acid L-Proline (L-Pro) acts as a signaling molecule that promotes the conversion of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) into mesenchymal-like, spindle-shaped, highly motile, invasive pluripotent stem cells. This embryonic stem cell-to-mesenchymal-like transition (esMT) is accompanied by a genome-wide remodeling of the transcriptome We used microarrays to elucidate whether a diverse transcriptional program is the basis of the morphological and motility differences between ESCs and L- Proline treated ESCs (PiCs) Total RNA was extracted from Control (ESCs) and L-Proline treated mouse embryonic stem cells (PiCs) and hybridized on Affimetrix microarrays.