mouse POU domain, class 5, transcription factor 1 (POU5F1) Adenovirus

Oct-3/4 is one of the family of octamer (“Oct”) transcription factors, and plays a crucial role in maintaining pluripotency. The absence of Oct-3/4 in Oct-3/4+ cells, such as blastomeres and embryonic stem cells, leads to spontaneous trophoblast differentiation, and presence of Oct-3/4 thus gives rise to the pluripotency and differentiation potential of embryonic stem cells. Various other genes in the “Oct” family, including Oct-3/4’s close relatives, Oct1 and Oct6, fail to elicit induction, thus demonstrating the exclusiveness of Oct-3/4 to the induction process.

Using adenovirus to deliver these transcription factors has 2 main advantages – it does not incorporate into the targeted host and therefore avoids the potential for insertional mutagenesis, and the expression is transient for a brief amount of time in order for effective reprogramming to take place.

This adenovirus expresses mouse Oct3/4, and it can be used in combination with other iPSC factor for the induction of iPSC reprogramming.