Human Oct-4 Gene Family

초록

The Oct-4 gene, also referred to as Oct-3, Oct-3/4, and POU5F1, encodes a nuclear protein that belongs to a family of transcription factors containing the POU DNA binding domain. It is normally, found in the pluripotent stem cells of pre-gastrulation embryos, including oocytes, early-cleavage-stage-embryos, and the inner cell mass of the blastocyst. Its expression is down-regulated during differentiation, and knockout of oct-4 causes early lethality in mice due to the absence of an inner cell mass. These results Suggest that Oct-4 plays a pivotal role in mammalian development and in the self-renewal of embryonic stein cells. Human Oct-4 isoform mRNAs encode proteins that have identical POU DNA binding domains and C-terminal domains, but differ in their amino-terminal domains. Unlike human Oct-4A, Oct-4B cannot sustain ES cell self-renewal. Here, We summarize the recent findings on Oct-4 isforms and pseudogenes expression.

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