Esrrb function in the extraembryonic ectoderm is required for proper primordial germ cell specification [microarray]

Estrogen related receptor beta (Esrrb) is an orphan nuclear receptor that is required for self-renewal and pluripotency in mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells. However, in the early post-implantation mouse embryo, Esrrb is specifically expressed in the extraembryonic ectoderm (ExE) and plays a crucial role in trophoblast development. In this study, to better understand the function of Esrrb in trophoblast lineage cells, we performed microarray analysis of Esrrb-null mutant versus wild-type mouse embryos. To further characterize the regulatory targets of Esrrb, we treated trophoblast stem (TS) cells with either Esrrb inhibitor DES or vehicle and compared their global gene expression profile via RNA-seq analysis. In addition, to ask whether these target genes are directly regulated by Esrrb, we performed Chromatin immunoprecipitation-sequencing (ChIP-seq) analysis of TS cells using anti-Esrrb antibody. Extraembryonic ectoderm from WT and Esrrb mutant mice were pooled into 3 biological replicates each, and gene expression differences were assessed with Affymetrix microarray