Embryonic Stem Cells as a Module for Systems Biology - Systems Biology: Networks, Models, and Applications - page 298

Figure 10.2 Embryonic stem cell differentiation. The origin of ES cells from the
inner cell mass of the blastocyst is shown with the derivation of the three major
embryonic lineages (mesoderm, endoderm, and ectoderm) and the possible
tissue types into which they differentiate.
Another attractive attribute of mouse ES cells is the availability of
techniques to specifically and precisely modify the genome through
homologous recombination where the possibilities range from large-
scale deletions (megabases) to single point mutations [10]. In addition
to studying the effects of these genome alterations in an in vitro ES cell
culture system, one can also generate mice from these modified ES cells
to study whole animal systems. The ability to perform such genome
modifications allows us to perform wet lab validations of hypotheses
and predictions derived from in silico analyses.
Here we will describe studies of ES cell growth and differentiation
and discuss the analyses of various large-scale data sets generated to
illustrate how the ES cell is an excellent model to test the validity of a
systems biology approach.
COMPUTATIONAL DISCOVERY OF GENE MODULES AND REGULATORY
NETWORKS BY ANALYSIS OF GENE EXPRESSION PROFILES OF ES AND
DIFFERENTIATING CELLS
One of the compelling quests in developmental biology has been to
identify genes required for ES cells to maintain their pluripotency