Nanog reporter system in mouse embryonic stem cells based on highly efficient BAC homologous recombination

Nanog is a novel transcription factor specifically expressed in mouse embryonic stem cells (mES cells). It has been reported that Nanog plays an essential role in maintaining multi-potency of ES cells. The expression of Nanog is very sensitive to ES cells differentiation, making Nanog one of the best markers to indicate the status of ES cells. In this study, we developed an efficient method to construct Nanog promoter driven EGFP reporter system based on the BAC homologous recombination. We further generated a Nanog-EGFP reporter mES cell line. This reporter mES cell line exhibited features similar to those of normal mES cells, and the EGFP reporter efficiently reflected the expression of Nanog, indi- cating the differentiation status of mES cells. We achieved a reliable experimental reporter system to research self-renewal and differentiation of mES cells. The system could facilitate research on culture system of mES cells and researches on the expression and regulation of Nanog and other related fac- tors in mES cells.