RNAi Knockdown of Redox Signaling Protein Ape1 in the Differentiation of Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells

Murine embryonic stem cells (ES) are pluripotent cells and have the potential to become a wide variety of specialized cell types. Mouse ES cell differentiation can be regarded as a valuable biological tool that has led to major advances in our understanding of cell and developmental biology. In vitro differentiation of mouse ES cells can be directed to a specific lineage formation, such as hematopoietic lineage, by appropriate cytokine and/or growth factor stimulation. To study specific gene function in early developmental events, gene knockout approaches have been traditionally used; however, this is a time-consuming and expensive approach. Recently, we have shown that siRNA is an effective strategy to knockdown target gene expression, such as Ape1 , during ES cell differentiation, and consequently, one can alter cell fates in ES-derived differentiated cells. This approach will be applicable to test the function of a wide variety of gene products using the ES cell differentiation system.