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Gene expression

Silent clones speak up

Nature volume 423, pages 390–391 (2003)Cite this article

An important category of genes — so-called pluripotency genes — are active in early embryos but silent in specialized cells. It seems that this silencing is difficult to reverse in cloned embryos.

Early on in the development of an embryo, the cells that are produced can contribute to a wide range of tissue types. But as development proceeds they become less and less 'pluripotent', as they are tailored towards specific functions. This restriction in developmental potential is associated with a relatively small number of genes being turned on at high levels, and a relatively large fraction of genes being switched off. A typical specialized cell thus expresses a minority of all the genes in the genome. An important question in both biology and medicine is whether and how these cells could be genetically 'reprogrammed' to adopt a different fate. The answers will provide insights into how cell specialization is maintained (which is of interest both fundamentally and in understanding cancer), and might open the way to personalized cell- and tissue-based treatments.

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Figure 1: Why is cloning inefficient?

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Developmental Genetics and Imprinting, The Babraham Institute, Cambridge, CB2 4AT, UK

    Wolf Reik & Wendy Dean

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  1. Wolf Reik
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  2. Wendy Dean
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Correspondence to Wolf Reik.

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Reik, W., Dean, W. Silent clones speak up. Nature 423, 390–391 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/423390a

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