Discovery of novel imprinted genes by transcriptional analysis of parthenogenetic embryonic stem cells. Macaca mulatta

Parthenogenetic embryonic stem cells (PESCs) may have future utility in cell replacement therapies. We examined genome-wide mRNA expression profiles of monkey PESCs relative to ESCs derived from fertilized embryos. Several known paternally-imprinted genes were in the highly down-regulated group in PESCs compared to ESCs. Allele specific expression analysis of paternally-imprinted genes, i.e., those genes whose expression is down-regulated in PESCs, led to the identification of one novel candidate that was exclusively expressed from a paternal allele. Our findings suggest that PESCs could be used as a model for studying genomic imprinting and in the discovery of novel imprinted genes. Keywords: gene expression Overall design: The transcriptomes of rhesus monkey embryonic stem cell lines derived from IVF-produced embryos (Oregon Rhesus Macaque Embryonic Stem, ORMES-22) were compared with rhesus monkey parthenogenetic embryonic stem cell lines (heterozygous rhesus Parthenogenetic embryonic stem cell lines, rPESC-2) and homozygous rhesus Parthenogenetic embryonic stem cell lines, ORMES-9). Moreover, the transcriptomes of rPESC-2 line were also compared with ORMES-9. Finally, the adult somatic skin fibroblasts were analyzed. Three biological replicates of each cell line (A, B, C) were analyzed.

孤雌生殖胚胎干细胞（Parthenogenetic embryonic stem cells, PESCs）未来有望应用于细胞替代治疗领域。本研究对比分析了恒河猴PESCs与受精胚胎来源胚胎干细胞（Embryonic Stem Cells, ESCs）的全基因组mRNA表达谱。与受精胚胎来源ESCs相比，多个已知的父本印记基因在PESCs中呈现显著下调表达。针对父本印记基因（即在PESCs中表达下调的基因）开展等位基因特异性表达分析后，本研究鉴定出一个全新的候选基因，该基因仅由父本等位基因表达。本研究结果表明，PESCs可作为研究基因组印记以及挖掘全新印记基因的实验模型。
关键词：基因表达
整体实验设计：本研究对比了体外受精（In Vitro Fertilization, IVF）胚胎来源的恒河猴胚胎干细胞系（Oregon Rhesus Macaque Embryonic Stem, ORMES-22）的转录组，与两类恒河猴孤雌生殖胚胎干细胞系：杂合型恒河猴孤雌生殖胚胎干细胞系rPESC-2，以及纯合型恒河猴孤雌生殖胚胎干细胞系ORMES-9。此外，本研究还对比了rPESC-2细胞系与ORMES-9细胞系的转录组。最后，本研究对成年皮肤成纤维细胞进行了转录组分析。每个细胞系均设置3次生物学重复（标记为A、B、C）并完成分析。