Critical roles of hMAGEA2 in induced pluripotent stem cell pluripotency,proliferation, and differentiation

Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are important for clinical application and stem cell research. Although human melanoma‐associated antigen A2 (hMAGEA2) expression is known to affect differentiation in embryonic stem cells, its specific role in iPS cells remains unclear. To evaluate the function of hMAGEA2 and its characteristics in iPS cells, we produced hMAGEA2‐overexpressing iPS cells from hMAGEA2‐overexpressing transgenic mice. Although the iPS cells with overexpressed hMAGEA2 did not differ in morphology, their pluripotency, and self‐renewal related genes (Nanog, Oct3/4, Sox2, and Stat3), expression level was significantly upregulated. Moreover, hMAGEA2 contributed to the promotion of cell cycle progression, thereby accelerating cell proliferation. Through embryoid body formation in vitro and teratoma formation in vivo, we demonstrated that hMAGEA2 critically decreases the differentiation ability of iPS cells. These data indicate that hMAGEA2 intensifies the self‐renewal, pluripotency, and degree of proliferation of iPS cells, while significantly repressing their differentiation efficiency. Therefore, our findings prove that hMAGEA2 plays key roles in iPS cells.     

Spartan/C1orf124 is important to prevent UV-induced mutagenesis

Uninterrupted replication across damaged DNA is critical to prevent replication fork collapse and resulting double-strand DNA breaks. Rad18-mediated PCNA ubiquitination is a crucial event that triggers a number of downstream pathways important for lesion bypass. Here, we report characterization of Spartan, an evolutionarily conserved protein containing a PCNA-interacting peptide motif, called a PIP box, and a UBZ4 ubiquitin-binding domain. Spartan is a nuclear protein and forms DNA damage-induced foci that colocalize with markers for stalled DNA replication. Focus formation of Spartan requires its PIP-box and the UBZ4 domain and is dependent on Rad18 and the PCNA ubiquitination site, indicating that Spartan is recruited to ubiquitinated PCNA. Spartan depletion results in increased mutagenesis during replication of UV-damaged DNA. Taken together, our data suggest that Spartan is recruited to sites of stalled replication via ubiquitinated PCNA and plays an important role to prevent mutations associated with replication of damaged DNA.