Short Report 2629 Klf5 is involved in self-renewal of mouse embryonic stem cells Silvia Parisi1,2,*, Fabiana Passaro1,3,*, Luigi Aloia1,2, Ichiro Manabe4, Ryozo Nagai5, Lucio Pastore1,3 and Tommaso Russo1,3,‡ 1CEINGE Biotecnologie Avanzate, 80145 Napoli, Italy 2European School of Molecular Medicine, SEMM, 80145 Napoli, Italy 3Dipartimento di Biochimica e Biotecnologie Mediche, Università di Napoli Federico II, 80131 Napoli, Italy 4Nano-Bioengineering Education Program and 5Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, The University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan *These authors contributed equally to this work ‡Author for correspondence (e-mail:
[email protected]) Accepted 15 May 2008 Journal of Cell Science 121, 2629-2634 Published by The Company of Biologists 2008 doi:10.1242/jcs.027599 Summary Self-renewal of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) is maintained by undifferentiated state by Klf5 is, at least in part, due to the a complex regulatory mechanism involving transcription factors control of Nanog and Oct3/4 transcription, because Klf5 directly Oct3/4 (Pou5f1), Nanog and Sox2. Here, we report that Klf5, a binds to the promoters of these genes and regulates their Zn-finger transcription factor of the Kruppel-like family, is transcription. involved in ESC self-renewal. Klf5 is expressed in mouse ESCs, blastocysts and primordial germ cells, and its knockdown by RNA interference alters the molecular phenotype of ESCs, Supplementary material available online at thereby preventing their correct differentiation. The ability of http://jcs.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/121/16/2629/DC1 Klf5 to maintain ESCs in the undifferentiated state is supported by the finding that differentiation of ESCs is prevented Key words: Differentiation, Kruppel-like factors, Nanog, Oct3/4, when Klf5 is constitutively expressed.