Silencing of Rho-GDIgamma by RNAi promotes the differentiation of neural stem cells.
RNA interference (RNAi) technology is one of the main means in the study of stem cell differentiation. This study describes Rho-GDIgamma function during the differentiation of neural stem cells by using RNAi. Rho-GDIgamma belongs to the Rho-GDI protein family, which is expressed at high level throughout the brain. Although it exists in neuronal population, its physiological function is poorly understood. By using RNAi technology to downregulate expression of Rho-GDIgamma, we found distinct morphological changes in neural stem cell line C17.2. More important, RT-PCR confirmed that RNAi-mediated downregulation of Rho-GDIgamma decreased expression of Rho-GDIgamma-regulated genes RhoA and slightly increased expression of Rac1. Further, immunochemical staining indicated that downregulation of Rho-GDIgamma increased the tendency of C17.2 cells to differentiate. These data strongly suggest that Rho-GDIgamma plays a key role in the differentiation of neural stem cells.
Wang
Jiao
J
Laboratory of Molecular Neural Biology, School of Life Sciences, Shanghai, China.
Lu
Wei
W
Wen
Tieqiao
T
D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D002460:Cell Line; D020730:Guanine Nucleotide Dissociation Inhibitors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051379:Mice; D008954:Models, Biological; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D034622:RNA Interference / Q000502:physiology*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D062947:rho-Specific Guanine Nucleotide Dissociation Inhibitors
D020730:Guanine Nucleotide Dissociation Inhibitors; D062947:rho-Specific Guanine Nucleotide Dissociation Inhibitors