PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Sirio Orozco-Fuentes AU - Laura E. Wadkin AU - Irina Neganova AU - Majlinda Lako AU - Rafael A. Barrio AU - Andrew W. Baggaley AU - Anvar Shukurov AU - Nicholas G. Parker TI - Spatio-temporal analyses of <em>OCT4</em> expression and fate transitions in human embryonic stem cells AID - 10.1101/2020.05.02.074435 DP - 2020 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 2020.05.02.074435 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/05/03/2020.05.02.074435.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/05/03/2020.05.02.074435.full AB - OCT4 is one of the transcription factors required to maintain an undifferentiated state in human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). Thus, it is crucial to understand how OCT4 transcription is regulated both at the single-cell and colony level. Here we analyse the changes of OCT4-mCherry intensity expression in hESCs in the presence and absence of the BMP4 morphogenetic protein.We show that OCT4 expression is dynamic, reaching a maximum response 10 h after BMP4 treatment. We obtain the stationary probability distributions that govern the hESCs transitions amongst the different cell states in the presence/absence of BMP4 and establish the times at which the hESCs, that lead to differentiated and pluripotent cells, cluster in the colony. Furthermore, by quantifying the similarities between the OCT4 expression amongst neighbouring hESCs, we show that hESCs express, on average, similar values in their local neighbourhood within the first two days of the experiment and before BMP4 treatment. These results are relevant for the development of mathematical and computational models of adherent hESC colonies.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.