Function of Sox2 and Klf4 during SKM reprogramming

Differentiated somatic cells can be reprogrammed into induced pluripotent stem cells by ectopic expression of transcription factors Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc, but the mechanisms are still to be dissected. The stoichiometry of factors influences the efficiency of induced pluripotent stem cells, and previous studies emphasized the requirement of high levels of overexpressed Oct4. In this study, we showed that, with appropriate stoichiometry achieved by polycistronic cassettes, Sox2 and Klf4 were sufficient to initiate and establish pluripotency in differentiated cells efficiently without Oct4 overexpression. Overall design: ChIP-seq: We performed the genome-wide analysis for Sox2 and Klf4 binding in day 2 SKM secondary MEFs RNA-seq: We performed the global gene expression analysis for the EGFP-positive populations from SKM reprogramming MEFs and NPCs.