DGCR8 and Intellectual disability: In this context, it is interesting to note that disruption of the DGCR8 locus is associated with mental retardation and that DGCR8 deletion interferes with the maturation of embryonic stem cells, causing them to aberrantly retain their ability to differentiate into different cell types (i.e., their pluripotency) while initiating differentiation (Wang et al. 2007).