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Epigenetics, vitamin supplements and cellular reprogramming

Nature Genetics volume 45, pages 1412–1413 (2013)Cite this article

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The simple addition of vitamin C to cell culture medium can induce extensive remodeling of the cellular epigenome and facilitates reprogramming of somatic cells to pluripotency. A new study shows that the activity of the enzyme TET1 can inhibit or enhance reprogramming efficiency, dependent on the presence or absence of vitamin C.

Recent studies have shown that vitamin C, which is sometimes used as an additive to cell culture medium, can cause genome-wide changes in epigenetic marks on DNA and can accelerate cell state transitions along the pathway of reprogramming of somatic cells to pluripotency (reviewed in ref. 1). These actions of vitamin C relate not to its antioxidant activity but to its role as a cofactor and electron donor for iron-dependent oxidoreductases. Members of this important class of enzymes include ten-eleven translocation (TET) enzymes, which can convert 5-methylcytosine to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) in DNA, a process hypothesized to be critical to active DNA demethylation. DNA demethylation is an integral part of the epigenetic remodeling that occurs during reprogramming; thus, TET activity might be critical for the reprogramming process. Now, Duanqing Pei and colleagues2 show that, in the presence of vitamin C, cells lacking TET1 undergo reprogramming more efficiently and that this effect is related to the levels of 5hmC at loci involved in a key early step of reprogramming, the mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET).

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Figure 1: The effects of TET1 deficiency are dependent on the presence of vitamin C in the medium.

Katie Vicari

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  1. Martin F. Pera is at the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, University of Melbourne, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, and the Florey Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,

    Martin F Pera

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  1. Martin F Pera
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Correspondence to Martin F Pera.

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Pera, M. Epigenetics, vitamin supplements and cellular reprogramming. Nat Genet 45, 1412–1413 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.2834

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