A study was made of the expression of the octamer-binding transcriptio
n factor Oct-2 during cell differentiation in vivo and in vitro and in
adult mice tissues, using two inductors-retinoic acid and DMSO. It wa
s shown that all the cells harbor a heterogeneous population of Oct-2
mRNA. The Oct-2 RNA pattern and the expression of active Oct-2 protein
s change in the course of differentiation.