Reprogramming articles from across Nature Portfolio

In this work Naama et al. describe and deeply characterize a direct approach to produce human induced trophoblast stem cells from fibroblasts and show that it produces superior hiTSCs when compared to OSKM-hiTSCs.

Somatic reprogramming involves both transcriptional and epigenetic resetting, but we don’t yet fully understand this process. Here they show that Jdp2, Glis1, Esrrb, and Sall4 can mediate reprogramming by recruiting the NuRD complex to close chromatin, highlighting a potential role in cell fate control.

The contribution of cell-extrinsic factors during cellular reprogramming to human induced pluripotent stem cells has long been overlooked. Here, the authors show functional protein communication between reprogramming intermediates and the re-shaping of a permissive extracellular environment.

Induced MSCs (iMSCs) are generated by direct reprogramming of human PBMCs using 5 factor transfection, including OCT4, SOX9, MYC, KLF4, and BCL-XL.

Ramabadran et al. identify a DNA methylation-independent role for DNMT3A in stem cell activation, mediated through recruitment of SF3B1 and splicing regulation.