The Stat3 target Mettl8 regulates mouse ESCs differentiation via inhibiting JNK pathway

The capacity of embryonic stem cells to differentiate into all lineages of mature organism is precisely regulated by cellular signaling factors. STAT3 is a crucial transcription factor that plays a central role in maintaining embryonic stem cells identity. However the underlying mechanism how Stat3 directs differentiation is still not completely understood. Here we show that Stat3 positively regulates gene expression of methyltransferase like protein 8 (Mettl8) in mouse ES cells. We found that Mettl8 is dispensable for pluripotency but affects ESCs differentiation. Subsequently we discovered that Mettl8 interacts with Mapkbp1's mRNA, which is an intermediate factor in JNK signaling, and inhibits the translation of the mRNA. Thereby, Mettl8 prohibits the activation of JNK signaling and enhances the differentiation of mouse ESCs. Collectively, our study uncovers a Stat3 target Mettl8 which regulates mouse ESCs differentiation via JNK signaling. Overall design: mRNA profiles of E14 cells transfected with scramble siRNA or Mettl8 siRNA were generated by deep sequencing, in triplicate, using Illumina GAIIx.

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Gu H, Do DV, Liu X, Xu L, Su Y, Nah JM, Wong Y, Li Y, Sheng N, Tilaye GA, Yang H, Guo H, Yan J, Fu XY