Oct4 in Mammalian ESC Pluripotency

Oct4 (also known as Oct-3) is a transcription factor whose expression is tightly linked to pluripotency in mammalian embryonic stem cells. It is highly expressed in ESCs and its expression decreases upon differentiation. Oct4 is a member of the POU family of transcription factors. In cooperation with other transcription factors like SOX2 and Nanog, it binds to genes to regulate transcriptional networks that regulate important functions like cell cycle control, anti-apoptotic genes, DNA repair, and chromatin structure and regulation.

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