Mutation in the huntingtin (HTT) gene causes Huntingtons disease. Wild type Htt is essential for development as Htt knockout mice die at day E7.5. Increasing evidence suggests mutant Htt may alter neurogenesis and development of striatal neurons resulting in neuronal loss. Using mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs), we examined the role of Htt in neural differentiation. We found Htt-null (HN) mESCs inefficient in generating neural stem cells. In contrast differentiation into progenitors of mesoderm and endoderm lineages was not affected. To investigate the basis for the lack of neural differentiation, we carried out gene expression profiling by RNA-seq to examine if genes involved in neural differentiation were dysregulated in HN mESCs. SOURCE: Man Shan Yu (ymsmabel@hotmail.com) - Tanese New York University School of Medicine

Pluto Bioinformatics

GSE92905: Transcriptional profiling of mouse embryonic stem cells without Huntingtin (Htt)