Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 25, 2026
08:01
A Two-Step Strategy that Combines Epigenetic Modification and Biomechanical Cues to Generate Mammalian Pluripotent Cells
Published on: August 29, 2020
1.9K
Exploring the mechanisms of differentiation, dedifferentiation, reprogramming and transdifferentiation
1State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin, China.
Plos One
|August 19, 2014
Summary
This study reveals cell fate transitions like reprogramming and transdifferentiation using landscape and flux dynamics. It quantifies cell type switching stability and identifies irreversible biological paths, offering a general framework for understanding cell plasticity.
Area of Science:
- Cellular dynamics and developmental biology
- Theoretical biology and systems biology
Background:
- Cell fate determination involves complex transitions like differentiation, dedifferentiation, reprogramming, and transdifferentiation.
- Understanding the driving forces and mechanisms behind these cell type switchings is crucial for regenerative medicine.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the underlying mechanisms of cell type switchings (differentiation, dedifferentiation, reprogramming, transdifferentiation) using landscape and flux perspectives.
- To quantify the stability and efficiency of cell type switchings and identify dominant biological paths.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a potential landscape model to represent cell types as valleys and cell fate transitions as movements between them.
- Investigated the influence of stochastic fluctuations, gene regulation, and induction as driving forces for cell fate decisions.
- Quantified barrier heights and escape times to assess the stability and efficiency of cell type switchings.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated that direct transdifferentiation proceeds between differentiated cell valleys, potentially via intermediate or indeterminate states.
- Showed that dedifferentiation involves a pluripotent cell state.
- Identified that cell type switching dynamics are governed by landscape gradients and flux, leading to irreversible biological paths.
- Classified cell fate development mechanisms using bifurcation theory.
Conclusions:
- The study provides a general theoretical framework for understanding cell plasticity and cell type switchings.
- The model's predictions align well with experimental observations.
- This framework can guide future research in regenerative medicine and developmental biology.
More Related Videos
06:55Transient Treatment of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells with DMSO to Promote Differentiation
Published on: July 17, 2019
14.1K
10:52Isolation of Adult Human Dermal Fibroblasts from Abdominal Skin and Generation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Using a Non-Integrating Method
Published on: January 19, 2020
10.4K
Related Concept Videos
01:28Forced Transdifferentiation
1.5K
Transdifferentiation, also known as lineage reprogramming, was first discovered by Selman and Kafatos in 1974 in silkmoths. They observed that the moths’ cuticle-producing cells transformed into salt-producing cells. Many such cases of natural transdifferentiation occur in organisms. In humans, pancreatic alpha cells can become beta cells. In newts, the loss of the eye’s lens causes the pigmented epithelial cells to transdifferentiate into the lens cells.
Artificial...
Artificial...
1.5K
01:14Introduction to Nuclear Reprogramming
1.3K
Nuclear reprogramming is the process of switching gene expression of one cell type to that of another cell type, usually from a differentiated cell state to an undifferentiated cell state. Differentiation occurs during processes such as development and morphogenesis, tissue regeneration, and malignancy. Cells can also be artificially induced to reprogram their gene expression by techniques such as nuclear transfer, induced pluripotency, and cell fusion. Such techniques have many applications in...
1.3K
01:24Methods of Nuclear Reprogramming
1.4K
Nuclear reprogramming is a process of transforming one cell type into an unrelated cell type by epigenetic changes that alter the cell’s original gene expression pattern. Such epigenetic changes force cells to express a different set of genes, which play a significant role in inducing transformation into other cell types. Nuclear reprogramming offers applications in reproductive cloning for livestock propagation and regenerative medicine — developing patient-specific cells for...
1.4K
01:29Somatic to iPS Cell Reprogramming
2.0K
Reprogramming alters the gene expression in somatic cells, transforming them into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells over several generations. Scientists can reprogram cells by introducing genes for four transcription factors—Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc (OSKM) by viral or non-viral methods. These factors are also known as Yamanaka factors after Shinya Yamanaka, who first generated iPS cells using mouse skin cells. Yamanaka was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2012...
2.0K
00:57Cellular Differentiation
5.7K
How does a complex organism such as a human develop from a single cell? It all starts from a single fertilized egg which gives rise to a vast array of cell types, such as nerve cells, muscle cells, and epithelial cells that characterize the adult? Throughout development and adulthood, cellular differentiation leads cells to assume their final morphology and physiology. Differentiation is the process by which unspecialized cells become specialized to carry out distinct functions.
A zygote is a...
A zygote is a...
5.7K
01:22iPS Cell Differentiation
2.2K
The ability of induced pluripotent stem cells or iPSCs to differentiate into most body cell types has stimulated repair and regenerative medicine research over the past few decades. iPSC-derived blood cells, hepatocytes, beta islet cells, cardiomyocytes, neurons, and other cell types can repair injuries or regenerate damaged tissue in diseases such as diabetes and neurodegenerative disorders.
2.2K