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Partial reversal of the methylation pattern of the X-linked gene HUMARA during hematopoietic differentiation of human embryonic stem cells Free
Maria-Teresa Mitjavila-Garcia1, Marie Laure Bonnet2,3, Frank Yates1, Rima Haddad1, Noufissa Oudrhiri1,4, Olivier Féraud1, Aurelie Magniez1, Melanie Makhlouf5, Celine Vallot5, Claire Rougeulle5, Annelise Bennaceur-Griscelli1,4,*, and Ali G. Turhan2,3,*
1INSERM U935, Université Paris Sud 11, AP-HP, Villejuif 94802, France
2INSERM U935, Université et CHU de Poitiers, Poitiers 86021, France
3Service d'Hématologie et d'Oncologie Biologique, CHU de Poitiers, Poitiers 86021, France
4Service d'Hématologie et Biologie des Tumeurs, CHU Paul Brousse, Villejuif 94804, France
5UMR 7216 Epigénétique et Destin Cellulaire, CNRS/Université Paris Diderot, Paris Cedex 13 75205, France *Correspondence to:Annelise Bennaceur-Griscelli, Tel: +33-1-45596910; fax: +33-5-49444971; E-mail: annelise.bennaceur@pbr.aphp.fr; Ali G. Turhan, Tel: +33-5-49444953; fax: +33-5-49444971; E-mail: ali.turhan@univ-poitiers.fr
J Mol Cell Biol, Volume 2, Issue 5, October 2010, 291-298,  https://doi.org/10.1093/jmcb/mjq026
Keyword: human embryonic stem cells, X-chromosome, hematopoiesis
Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) can be induced to differentiate towards hematopoiesis with high efficiency. In this work, we analyzed the methylation status of the X-linked HUMARA (human androgen receptor) gene in hematopoietic cells derived from hESC line H9 before and after induction of hematopoietic differentiation. All passages of H9 and H9-derived hematopoietic cells displayed homogenous methylation pattern with disappearance of the same allele upon HpaII digestion. This pattern persisted in the great majority of different hematopoietic progenitors derived from H9, except in 11 of 86 individually plucked colonies in which an equal digestion of the HUMARA alleles has been found, suggesting that a methylation change occurring at this locus during differentiation. Interestingly, quantification of X inactive-specific transcript (XIST) RNA in undifferentiated H9 cell line and day 14 embryoid bodies (EB) by RT-PCR did not show any evidence of XIST expression either before or after differentiation. Thus, during self-renewal conditions and after induction of commitment towards the formation of EB, the methylation pattern of the HUMARA locus appears locked with the same unmethylated allele. However, hematopoietic differentiation seems to be permissive to the reversal of methylation status of HUMARA in some terminally differentiated progenitors. These data suggest that monitoring methylation of HUMARA gene during induced differentiation could be of use for studying hESC-derived hematopoiesis.