Transcriptome profiling of human and murine ESCs identifies divergent paths required to maintain the stem cell state.

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are an important source of stem cells in regenerative medicine, and much remains unknown about their molecular characteristics. To develop a detailed genomic profile of ESC lines in two different species, we compared transcriptomes of one murine and two different hESC lines by massively parallel signature sequencing (MPSS). Over 2 million signature tags from each line and their differentiating embryoid bodies were sequenced.