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:2014
卷号:111
期号:44
页码:15768-15773
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1417518111
语种:English
出版社:The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要:SignificanceEmbryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells have abbreviated cell cycles. To achieve this rapid proliferation, several molecular safeguards that normally distinguish healthy from transformed cells are altered. Understanding how these pluripotent stem cells balance the demands of their unique cell cycles against the need to maintain a stable genome is critical to unlocking their great promise for regenerative medicine. Here, we demonstrate that Oct4 (octamer-binding transcription factor 4), a transcription factor required to maintain pluripotency, inhibits the activation of cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) 1, the master regulator of mitosis, and delays mitotic entry in a nontranscriptional manner. To our knowledge, our study is the first demonstration of a nontranscriptional function of the pluripotency regulator Oct4. Rapid progression through the cell cycle and a very short G1 phase are defining characteristics of embryonic stem cells. This distinct cell cycle is driven by a positive feedback loop involving Rb inactivation and reduced oscillations of cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) activity. In this setting, we inquired how ES cells avoid the potentially deleterious consequences of premature mitotic entry. We found that the pluripotency transcription factor Oct4 (octamer-binding transcription factor 4) plays an unappreciated role in the ES cell cycle by forming a complex with cyclin-Cdk1 and inhibiting Cdk1 activation. Ectopic expression of Oct4 or a mutant lacking transcriptional activity recapitulated delayed mitotic entry in HeLa cells. Reduction of Oct4 levels in ES cells accelerated G2 progression, which led to increased chromosomal missegregation and apoptosis. Our data demonstrate an unexpected nontranscriptional function of Oct4 in the regulation of mitotic entry.