Plasticity of Dental Cell Types in Development, Regeneration, and Evolution.

Area of Science:

• Developmental Biology
• Cell Biology
• Evolutionary Biology

Background:

• Recent advances in single-cell transcriptomics have significantly enhanced our understanding of cell plasticity in tooth development.
• This technology allows for precise definition of cell states and their transitions, revealing new aspects of dental stem cell niches.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review and exemplify how dental cell types exhibit plasticity during dynamic processes.
• To explore the role of cell plasticity in tooth development, self-renewal, repair, and replacement.
• To discuss the hypothetical benefits of cell plasticity for responding to lifetime challenges and evolutionary adaptation.

Main Methods:

• Review of recent scientific literature.
• Analysis of single-cell transcriptomics data.
• Discussion of developmental and evolutionary paradigms of cell plasticity.

Main Results:

• Dental epithelial and mesenchymal stem cells show continuous and fluid trajectories, indicating natural plasticity.
• This developmental plasticity is utilized in organizing stem cell niches in continuously growing teeth.
• Transitions between mature cell types after trauma may mirror embryonic states or represent novel evolutionary pathways.

Conclusions:

• Dental cell plasticity is crucial for development, self-renewal, repair, and replacement, enabling adaptation to challenges like damage or tooth loss.
• Greater plasticity in cell state transitions, rather than individual cell phenotypes, may enhance resilience.
• Evolutionary processes may harness dental cell plasticity to diversify tooth subtypes across animal lineages, leading to varied shapes, structures, and functions.