Expression of protein tyrosine kinases and stem cell factor in chicken blastodermal cells

Animal and Poultry Science, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

Chicken blastodermal cells (CBC) from Stage X embryos, which were isolated from newly laid, fertile, unincubated eggs, are pluripotent cells and can produce somatic and germline chimeras when injected into recipient stage X embryos. The CBC retain their pluripotential ability for up to 7 d in vitro. The molecular mechanisms that control proliferation and differentiation of CBC are largely unknown, although protein tyrosine kinases (PTK) are known to play important roles in these processes in similar cells. To understand better the molecular mechanisms of proliferation and differentiation in CBC, expression profiles of PTK and stem cell factor (SCF) were analyzed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using gene-specific and degenerate oligonucleotide primers. Seventeen distinct PTK, including 14 receptor-type and 3 nonreceptor-type PTK and SCF were identified by RT-PCR. Expression of all of the genes was confirmed by northern blot analysis. The northern blot analysis showed that all probes hybridized with one or more transcripts at various expression levels. The expression of the 17 PTK and SCF genes in CBC suggests that they might play a role in signal transduction pathways that control the proliferation or differentiation in CBC.