Identification of Potential Molecular Determinants of Murine Embryonic Stem Cell Differentiation by a Transposon-Based Approach

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are self-renewing pluripotent cells, capable of differentiating into all somatic cell types. The molecular control of self-renewal is relatively well-characterized, whereas how ESCs exit pluripotent state to differentiate is poorly understood. Here we identify two genes are required for differentiation and dozens of intergenic regions that potentially regulate ESC differentiation. We used PiggyBac (PB) transposon-based approach to randomly mutate the genome of ESCs, and generated hundreds of clones that resisted differentiation signals. Each clone was sequenced to determine genomic regions mutated by PB insertion. Intriguingly, many mutations were localized among intergenic regions and we identified two genes are required for differentiation. This study should facilitate further exploration of novel molecular determinants of embryonic stem cell differentiation.