Defining Differentiated Methylation Regions Especial for Pluripotency Acquisition and Maintenance in Human Stem Cell

Here, we determined the DNA methylation profiles of 12 human cell lines, including 2 ESC lines, 2 pESC lines,4 virally-delivered iPSC lines, 2 episomal-delivered iPSC lines, and 2 parent cell lines that iPSCs derived from using Illumina’s Infinium HumanMethylation450. The iPSCs exhibited a hypermethylation status similarly to ESCs but distinct differences from the parent cells. Genes of common methylation pattern between iPSCs and ESCs were regarded as critical factors for stemness, while differences existing between iPSCs and ESCs implied that iPSCs partly retained the parental characteristics and gained de novo methylation aberrances during cell reprogramming. No significant variant was identified between virally- and episomal- systems. De novo differentiated methylation regions as the signature of particular stem cell lines were figured out in detail in this study. 2 ESC lines, 2 pESC lines,4 virally-delivered iPSC lines, 2 episomal-delivered iPSC lines, and 2 parent cell lines that iPSCs derived from