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Updated: Dec 15, 2025

Application of RNAi and Heat-shock-induced Transcription Factor Expression to Reprogram Germ Cells to Neurons in C. elegans
Published on: January 1, 2018
Direct reprogramming of somatic cells is promoted by maternal transcription factor Glis1
Momoko Maekawa1, Kei Yamaguchi, Tomonori Nakamura
1Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.
Abstract:
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are generated from somatic cells by the transgenic expression of three transcription factors collectively called OSK: Oct3/4 (also called Pou5f1), Sox2 and Klf4. However, the conversion to iPSCs is inefficient. The proto-oncogene Myc enhances the efficiency of iPSC generation by OSK but it also increases the tumorigenicity of the resulting iPSCs. Here we show that the Gli-like transcription factor Glis1 (Glis family zinc finger 1) markedly enhances the generation of iPSCs from both mouse and human fibroblasts when it is expressed together with OSK. Mouse iPSCs generated using this combination of transcription factors can form germline-competent chimaeras. Glis1 is enriched in unfertilized oocytes and in embryos at the one-cell stage. DNA microarray analyses show that Glis1 promotes multiple pro-reprogramming pathways, including Myc, Nanog, Lin28, Wnt, Essrb and the mesenchymal-epithelial transition. These results therefore show that Glis1 effectively promotes the direct reprogramming of somatic cells during iPSC generation.
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