FIG. 9.

Morpholino oligonucleotide blocking of TERT splicing induces spontaneous hESC differentiation. hESCs were cultured in feeder-free and 20% O₂ conditions in the presence of 10 μM of morpholino oligonucleotides (MO). hESCs were passaged in the presence of MO to facilitate uptake. (A) Representative immunofluorescence images showing the detection of SSEA1 (red fluorescence) in hESCs treated with 3′-fluorescein-labeled morpholino oligonucleotides: standard control morpholino (Control MO) and Δα and Δβ TERT MO (green fluorescence in the overlay). Scale bars represent 200 μm. (B) Relative telomerase activity levels of whole-cell lysates as measured by the RQ-TRAP assay after either control morpholino (C-MO), Δα isoform MO, or Δβ isoform MO. HDFs, human diploid fibroblasts. Error bars represent SE, n=3. Letters above histogram bars indicate significant differences (P<0.05). Color images available online at www.liebertpub.com/scd