Differential expression of BMP4-regulated genes associated with commitment of C3H10T1/2 cells into adipocytes

C3H10T1/2 stem cells are committed to the adipocyte lineage by treatment with BMP-4 and grown to postconfluence. When subjected to our standard differentiation protocol, the committed cells differentiate into adipocytes in a manner indistinguishable from that of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. In contrast, C3H10T1/2 cells not committed with BMP-4 remain undifferentiated despite treatment with differentiation inducers. The molecular basis of the commitment process, however, has not been elucidated. Since postconfluent uncommitted and committed C3H10T1/2 cells respond differently to the differentiation inducers, it was reasoned that the two cell types differed at the gene expression level. Therefore, we undertook microarray gene expression profiling to detect changes between the two cell populations at postconfluence to identify expressed genes that may be responsible for the dramatic change in phenotype.

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Otto TC, Bowers RR, Lane MD