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Genomic Imprinting and Inheritance

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Diploid organisms inherit genetic material through chromosomes from both parents. Copies of the same gene are known as alleles. In most cases, both alleles are simultaneously expressed and allow various cellular processes to function optimally. If one of the alleles is missing or mutated, the expression of the other allele can compensate; however, this is not true for all genes.
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Updated: Nov 3, 2025

A Two-Step Strategy that Combines Epigenetic Modification and Biomechanical Cues to Generate Mammalian Pluripotent Cells

A Two-Step Strategy that Combines Epigenetic Modification and Biomechanical Cues to Generate Mammalian Pluripotent Cells

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Molding immortality from a plastic germline.

Amelie A Raz¹, Yukiko M Yamashita²

¹Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA.

Current Opinion in Cell Biology

|June 6, 2021

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Germ cells achieve immortality through a plastic state, allowing other cells to rejuvenate and gain germline characteristics. This plasticity offers insights into the fundamental hallmarks of germline immortality.

Keywords:

Dedifferentiation Germ cells Stem cells

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Area of Science:

Developmental Biology
Cellular Biology
Genetics

Background:

Germ cells possess unique immortality, enabling continuous generational reproduction.
Recent research reveals germline plasticity, including interconversion between differentiation states and germline/soma boundaries.
This suggests germline immortality relies on inducible rejuvenation processes in other cells.

Purpose of the Study:

To review current understanding of germline plasticity.
To explore how germline fate conversion events illuminate germline immortality.

Main Methods:

Literature review of recent studies on germline plasticity and immortality.
Analysis of interconversion events between germline states and germline/soma.
Synthesis of findings to understand hallmarks of germline immortality.

Main Results:

Germline state is highly plastic and interconvertible.
Fate conversion events between germline and somatic cells are frequent.
Rejuvenation to a germline state appears to be an inducible feature.

Conclusions:

Germline plasticity is a key factor in cellular immortality.
Understanding fate conversion is crucial for deciphering germline immortality mechanisms.
Inducible rejuvenation of somatic cells to a germline state is a plausible pathway to immortality.