Regulation of cell fate decision by microRNA in the mesendoderm lineage

Abstract

Mesendoderm which gives rise to the notochord can be derived from mouse ES cells. Various signalling pathways have been shown to be required for this differentiation process. For example, TGFbeta/Activin siganalling, PI3/Akt signalling pathway and Wnt signalling pathway. We differentiate ES cells into notochordal-like cells by monitoring the expression of a GFP reporter driven by the endogenous Noto gene locus in vitro. We collected Noto-GFP positive cells and conducted miRNA-seq on these cells. We found enriched miRNA and differentially expressed miRNA compared to ES cells in these Noto-GFP+ cells and aim to establish a miRNA-mRNA network to identify an essential microRNA cocktail that induce mesendoderm and notochord cell differentiation comparable to that in in vivo.