Developmental Pluripotency Associated Protein 4 (DPPA4)

Developmental pluripotency associated 4 (Dppa4) is one such gene highly expressed in both ES cells and early embryos. Dppa4 overexpression suppressed cell proliferation and formation of embryoid bodies and caused massive cell death in differentiating ES cells. Dppa4 overexpression does not support ES cell self-renewal but partially inhibits ES cell differentiation. Suppression of Dppa4 expression by short hairpin RNA induced ES cell differentiation into a primitive ectoderm lineage. DPPA4 protein was localized in the ES cell nucleus associated with chromatin. Micrococcal nuclease digestion analysis and immunocytochemistry revealed that DPPA4 is associated with transcriptionally active chromatin. These findings indicate that DPPA4 is a nuclear factor associated with active chromatin and that it regulates differentiation of ES cells into a primitive ectoderm lineage.