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The Human Embryonic Stem Cells Transcriptome: How Much Do We Know?



Shubha Vij1, Lai ZhenYang1, Wong Pui Mun1, Chak Li-Ling1, Wang Yue1, Chan Woon-Khiong1, *, Ariff Bongso2
1 Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 14 Science Drive 4, Singapore 117543 and
2 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, National University of Singapore, National University Hospital, Singapore 119074


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Creative Commons License
© 2008 Vij et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 14 Science Drive 4, Singapore 117543, E-mail: dbscwk@nus.edu.sg


Abstract

The establishment of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines in 1998 served to set the pace for understanding the molecular biology behind the two hallmark features of stem cells: self renewal and pluripotency. The excitement was generated in the hope that understanding the molecular biology of hESCs would provide a good model for studying early human development, disease and drug discovery and also hold the promise for providing a cure for degenerative human diseases. In spite of the large number of studies, the molecular basis of pluripotency has remained a matter of intrigue ever since the embryonic stem cells (ESCs) were first identified. A considerable percentage of these studies have been transcriptome-based. Interestingly, significant differences are seen not only between mouse and human ESC transcriptomes but also amongst the hESC studies. Nevertheless, a key set of pluripotency genes seem to be common, reinforcing the utility of transcriptome-based approaches in identifying the molecular basis of pluripotency in hESCs.