Cops2 promotes pluripotency maintenance by Stabilizing Nanog Protein and Repressing Transcription

The COP9 signalosome has been implicated in pluripotency maintenance of human embryonic stem cells. Yet, the mechanism for the COP9 signalosome to regulate pluripotency remains elusive. Through knocking down individual COP9 subunits, we demonstrate that Cops2, but not the whole COP9 signalosome, is essential for pluripotency maintenance in mouse embryonic stem cells. Downregulation of Cops2 leads to reduced expression of pluripotency genes, slower proliferation rate, G2/M cell cycle arrest, and compromised embryoid differentiation of embryonic stem cells. Cops2 also facilitates somatic cell reprogramming. We further show that Cops2 binds to Nanog protein and prevent the degradation of Nanog by proteasome. Moreover, Cops2 functions as transcriptional corepressor to facilitate pluripotency maintenance. Altogether, our data reveal the essential role and novel mechanisms of Cops2 in pluripotency maintenance.