Fig. 4

Gene expression profile analysis confirms the functions of DKG. A–C Reprogramming with 160 μM AscPNa or DKG. RNA-seq analysis was performed on day 3 and day 8 to examine gene expression profiles A. The correlation coefficient of gene expression and PCA of the results were provided in B and C, respectively. D–F Overlapping genes regulated by AscPNa and DKG. More than 60% of the genes regulated by DKG were also regulated by AscPNa D. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis was performed with these overlapping genes E–F. G The expression levels of mesenchymal and epithelial markers in the RNA-seq samples were summarized and plotted to indicate the occurrence of MET. H–J The abilities of AscPNa and DKG to regulate three groups of genes were summarized. RNA-seq experiments were repeated twice (n = 2). Statistical information is provided in Additional file 4: Table S3.