Seminar

The role of ß-catenin in the transition between self renewal and differentiation in mES cells

Prof. Alfonso Martínez Arias

The maintenance of pluripotency in mouse ES cells requires the activity of a small transcriptional network centered on the activities of Oct4, Nanog and Sox2. However, extracellular signalling plays a role in the maintenance of this state and, in particular, a large body of work suggests that inhibition of GSK3 stimulates pluripotency. GSK3 is an enzyme with a wide range of targets but which plays a central role in Wnt signalling and these observations have led to the suggestion that Wnt signalling, and in particular Wnt/ß-catenin signalling, is a key element of the pluripotency network. We have been investigating this hypothesis and the talk will explore our findings that suggest different modes of Wnt/ß-catenin signalling during self renewal and differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells.