Role of Sox2 in preimplantation and postimplantation pluripotency

Sox2 is a key transcription factor directing embryonic stem cell (ESC) pluripotency. However, the role of SoxB1 proteins in epiblast stem cell (EpiSC) pluripotency is unknown. Here we compare the transcriptomes of pluripotent cells cultured in different conditions that express different levels of Sox2. While highest Sox2 level in ESCs are enriched for naive pluripotency markers, ESCs and EpiSCs expressing the same Sox2 level were transcriptionally distinct. Thus Sox2 levels do not dictate the distinction between ESC and EpiSC states. Microarray gene expression analysis of mouse embryonic stem cells in different culture conditions. 4 conditions: AFN=Activin/FGF/N2B27 (unsorted (All) or sorted by Sox2 expression into High or Low), PCLN=LIF/2i/N2B27, LBN=LIF/BMP/N2B27 (sorted by Sox2 expression into High and Low) and FCSL=LIF/FCS/GMEM (sorted by Sox2 expression into High and Low). 3 replicates per group. 24 samples total.