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Epigenetics

Actors in the cell reprogramming drama

Nature volume 488, pages 599–600 (2012)Cite this article

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The transformation of skin cells into stem cells is a fascinating but poorly understood process. At last, the molecular characters underlying the initial steps have been revealed. See Letter p.652

Coercing cells into adopting new fates — for example, turning skin into muscle1, brain2 or heart3 — is one of the most impressive achievements of modern biology. Prominent among these feats is the transformation of skin cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)4. In contrast to skin cells (fibroblasts) and other differentiated cells, which cannot generate any other cell type except their own, iPSCs have the remarkable ability to give rise to any kind of cell in the body4. Yet the molecular changes that drive this cellular metamorphosis have remained a mystery. For the first time, Doege et al.5 (page 652) provide a mechanistic explanation for how the earliest phases of such a dramatic change in cell fate might be executed.

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Figure 1: Cell metamorphosis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kyle M. Loh is in the Department of Developmental Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, USA.,

    Kyle M. Loh

  2. Bing Lim is at the Stem Cell & Developmental Biology Group, Genome Institute of Singapore, 138672 Singapore, and at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts.,

    Bing Lim

Authors
  1. Kyle M. Loh
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  2. Bing Lim
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Correspondence to Kyle M. Loh or Bing Lim.

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Loh, K., Lim, B. Actors in the cell reprogramming drama. Nature 488, 599–600 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/488599a

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