GATA Family Members as Inducers for Cellular Reprogramming to Pluripotency. Mus musculus

Members of the GATA protein family play important roles in lineage specification and transdifferentiation. Previous reports show that some members of GATA protein family also can induce pluripotency in somatic cells by substituting for the key pluripotency-associated factor Oct4. However, the mechanism that links the lineage specifying cues and activation of pluripotency remains elusive. Here, we report that all GATA family members can substitute for Oct4 to induce pluripotency. We found that all members of the GATA family can inhibit elevated ectodermal-lineage genes, which is consistent with previous reports that a balance of different lineage-specifying forces is important for restoration of pluripotency. A conserved DNA-binding domain in the C-terminal zinc finger is critical for the GATA family to induce pluripotency. Using RNA-seq and ChIP-seq we identified that the pluripotency-related gene Sall4 is a direct target of GATA family members during reprogramming, serving as a bridge linking the lineage-specific GATA family to the pluripotency circuit. Thus, the GATA family is the first family of proteins wherein all members can function as inducers of the reprogramming process that can substitute for Oct4. Our results suggest that the roles of the GATA family in reprogramming have been greatly underestimated, and that the GATA family may serve as a general mediator for cell fate conversion. Overall design: GATA4 and GATA6 ChIP-Seq at day 6 post-induction MEFs. mRNA profiles of GATA4- and GATA6- MEFs at days 0, 2, 4, and 6 respectively. Sequencing repeated twice each sample.