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Related Concept Videos

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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.
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Methods of Nuclear Reprogramming01:24

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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...
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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...
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Other than maintaining genome stability via DNA repair, homologous recombination plays an important role in diversifying the genome. In fact, the recombination of sequences forms the molecular basis of genomic evolution. Random and non-random permutations of genomic sequences create a library of new amalgamated sequences. These newly formed genomes can determine the fitness and survival of cells. In bacteria, homologous and non-homologous types of recombination lead to the evolution of new...
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 2, 2026

Direct Lineage Reprogramming of Adult Mouse Fibroblast to Erythroid Progenitors
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Direct somatic lineage conversion.

Koji Tanabe1, Daniel Haag1, Marius Wernig2

  • 1Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences
|September 30, 2015
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Specialized cells are not permanently fixed. Direct reprogramming can convert one cell type into another, challenging previous models of cell differentiation and stability.

Keywords:
cell fate conversiondirect reprogramminginduced neuronal cellsinduced pluripotent stem cellspluripotent stem cell-derived induced neuronal cells

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Area of Science:

  • Developmental Biology
  • Cell Biology
  • Epigenetics

Background:

  • Traditionally, cell differentiation was thought to involve irreversible epigenetic changes, making specialized cells stable and unchangeable.
  • Early research suggested limited potential for altering somatic cell identity, primarily between closely related cell types.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the flexibility of cell identity and the potential for direct lineage conversion between differentiated cell types.
  • To challenge the established model of rigid epigenetic programming during cell specialization.

Main Methods:

  • Review of nuclear transplantation experiments demonstrating reprogramming to totipotency.
  • Analysis of studies involving transcription factor-mediated reprogramming to pluripotency.
  • Examination of direct somatic cell lineage conversion experiments, including mesodermal to ectodermal conversion.

Main Results:

  • Nuclear transplantation can reprogram adult mammalian cells to a totipotent state.
  • Transcription factors can induce pluripotency without oocytes, indicating easier-to-overcome epigenetic barriers.
  • Direct conversion of differentiated cells (e.g., mesodermal to ectodermal) without pluripotent intermediates is possible, suggesting broad reprogramming potential.

Conclusions:

  • Epigenetic barriers in cell differentiation are more flexible than previously assumed.
  • Direct somatic cell reprogramming offers a viable strategy for generating diverse cell types.
  • The focus in the field has shifted from 'if' direct reprogramming is possible to 'how' it can be efficiently induced.