期刊名称:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN:0027-8424
电子版ISSN:1091-6490
出版年度:2010
卷号:107
期号:8
页码:3846-3851
DOI:10.1073/pnas.0913256107
语种:English
出版社:The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要:The molecular oscillations underlying the generation of circadian rhythmicity in mammals develop gradually during ontogenesis. However, the developmental process of mammalian cellular circadian oscillator formation remains unknown. In differentiated somatic cells, the transcriptional-translational feedback loops (TTFL) consisting of clock genes elicit the molecular circadian oscillation. Using a bioluminescence imaging system to monitor clock gene expression, we show here that the circadian bioluminescence rhythm is not detected in the mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells, and that the ES cells likely lack TTFL regulation for clock gene expression. The circadian clock oscillation was induced during the differentiation culture of mouse ES cells without maternal factors. In addition, reprogramming of the differentiated cells by expression of Sox2, Klf4, Oct3/4, and c-Myc genes, which were factors to generate induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, resulted in the re-disappearance of circadian oscillation. These results demonstrate that an intrinsic program controls the formation of the circadian oscillator during the differentiation process of ES cells in vitro. The cellular differentiation and reprogramming system using cultured ES cells allows us to observe the circadian clock formation process and may help design new strategies to understand the key mechanisms responsible for the organization of the molecular oscillator in mammals.