Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts (MEFs) are used in the culturing of mouse
Embryonic Stem (ES) cells. They provide both a substrate for the ES
cells to grow on and secrete many factors necessary for ES cells to
maintain pluripotency. Feeders are MEFs that have been mitotically
inactivated using mitomycin-C.
All mouse feeder cells originate from embryos, however there are
important differences between types of feeder cells that relate to drug
resistance. Frequently researchers engineering ES cells need to perform
various drug selections on their cultures. If the feeder cells were not
resistant to the drug being used to select the engineered ES cells,
they would die. Consequently researchers have engineered mice to carry
the various drug resistance markers used in ES cell culture selection
schemes. The process of engineering mice with various drug resistances,
extracting the MEFs, expanding them to large numbers and mitotically
inactivating them is time consuming and expensive.
Open Biosystems is now offering a unique quad-resistant DR4 feeder cell
line. What makes these DR4 feeders so desirable is that they are
acquired from mice that have been engineered to be resistant to
hygromycin, puromycin, 6-thioguanine, and neomycin. This makes them
extremely versatile in that one can use this cell line when using any
of the four drug selections. In addition the DR4 feeders allow the use
of more than one drug selection simultaneously, an option not available
in other commercially available feeder cells that possess single
resistance markers.
C57BL6 MEFs are HAT
resistant.
