Figure 2

Inhibition of p18 expression facilitates reprogramming.

(A) Transfection of p18-specific shRNA significantly inhibits p18 mRNA expression. Data are normalized to cells transfected with scramble shRNA and are shown as mean ± standard deviation (SD), n = 3, **P < 0.01. (B) Western blot analysis of whole cell extracts from MEFs transfected with scramble or p18-specific shRNA. Actin serves as a loading control. (C) Histograms of DNA contents in cells transfected with an expression vector containing either scramble or p18-specific shRNA. (D) p18 knockdown significantly decreases the proportion of cells in G1 phase. Data are normalized to cells transfected with scramble shRNA and are shown as mean ± SD; n=3, *P < 0.05. (E) Alkaline phosphatase (AP) staining of iPSC colonies. (F) p18 knockdown enhances reprogramming efficiency. AP-positive colonies were counted and normalized to cells transfected with scramble shRNA. Data are shown as mean ± SD; n = 3, **P < 0.01.