Embryonic gene expression programmes are reactivated in response to various types of tissue damage in adult organs to provide cell plasticity and potency for regeneration. I propose that, depending on the extent of damage, being acute or chronic, adult cells restore their expression programmes to late or early embryonic states, respectively.
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Acknowledgements
I am grateful to K. Basler for immense support, G. Hausmann for valuable comments on the manuscript, M. D. Brügger for technical assistance with the figure and other members of the Basler laboratory for discussions and feedbacks. My work was supported by the Forschungskredit of the University of Zürich grant FK-21-119 and a grant of the University and Medical Faculty of Zurich and the Comprehensive Cancer Center Zurich.
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Fazilaty, H. Restoration of embryonic gene expression patterns in tissue regeneration and disease. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 24, 375–376 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-023-00586-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-023-00586-y
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