Table 2.

The Most Cited Candidate Embryonic Stem Cell Maker Genes in Literature

Gene abbreviation	Gene name	Biochemical functiona
Cx43	Connexin 43	Component of connexons.
DNMT3B	DNA (cytosine-5) methyltransferase 3β	Required for genome-wide de novo methylation and is essential for the establishment of DNA methylation patterns during development.
FOXD3	Forkhead box D3	Required for maintenance of pluripotent cells in the pre-implantation and peri-implantation stages of embryogenesis.
GAL	Galanin	Contracts smooth muscle of the gastrointestinal and genitourinary tract, regulates growth hormone release, modulates insulin release, and may be involved in the control of adrenal secretion.
GDF3	Growth differentiation factor 3	Control differentiation of ESCs in mice and humans. This molecule plays a role in mesoderm and definitive endoderm formation during the pre-gastrulation stages of development.
PODXL	Podocalyxin-like	Pro-adhesive molecule, enhancing the adherence of cells to immobilized ligands, increasing the rate of migration and cell-cell contacts in an integrin-dependent manner.
LEFTYA	Left-right determination factor A	Required for left-right (L-R) asymmetry determination of organ systems in mammals.
LEFTYB	Left-right determination factor A	Required for left-right axis determination as a regulator of LEFTY2 and NODAL.
LIN28	Cell lineage protein 28	Acts as a “translational enhancer,” driving specific mRNAs to polysomes and thus increasing the efficiency of protein synthesis. Its association with the translational machinery and target mRNAs results in an increased number of initiation events per molecule of mRNA and, indirectly, in stabilizing the mRNAs.
NANOG	Nanog	Transcription regulator involved in inner cell mass and ESCs proliferation and self-renewal. Imposes pluripotency on ESCs and prevents their differentiation towards extraembryonic endoderm and trophectoderm lineages.
OCT4	Octamer binding protein 4	Forms a trimeric complex with SOX2 on DNA and controls the expression of a number of genes involved in embryonic development
REX1	Zinc finger protein 42	Involved in self-renewal property of ESCs.
SOX2	SRY-related HMG box 2	Transcription factor that forms a trimeric complex with OCT4 on DNA and controls the expression of a number of genes involved in embryonic development.
TDGF1	Teratocarcinoma-derived growth factor 1	Play a role in the determination of the epiblastic cells that subsequently give rise to the mesoderm.
TERF1	Telomeric repeat binding factor 1	Component of the shelterin complex (telosome) that is involved in the regulation of telomere length and protection.
TERF2	Telomeric repeat binding factor 1	Component of the shelterin complex (telosome) that is involved in the regulation of telomere length and protection.
TERT	Telomerase	Catalytic component of the teleromerase holoenzyme complex whose main activity is the elongation of telomeres by acting as a reverse transcriptase that adds simple sequence repeats to chromosome ends by copying a template sequence within the RNA component of the enzyme.
UTF-1	Undifferentiated embryonic cell transcription factor-1	Acts as a transcriptional coactivator of ATF2, a transcriptional activator, probably constitutive, which binds to the cAMP-responsive element.

^aExtracted from GeneCards (www.genecards.org).