More reprogramming clues (maybe)

Written byAlison McCook

| 1 min read

One of the biggest holy grails in biology involves finding a means to generate pluripotent and infinitely replicating stem cells without generating an embryo. One Japanese team presented some potent clues last night at the linkurl:Keystone conference;http://www.keystonesymposia.org/Meetings/ViewMeetings.cfm?MeetingID=786 on stem cell biology -- but stem cell researchers will need a few more bread crumbs before they can put this potentially exciting information to use. linkurl:Shinya Yamanaka;http://www.frontier.kyoto-u.ac.jp/rc02/kyojuE.html from Kyoto University and the Japan Science and Technology Agency presented a series of experiments designed to identify key reprogramming factors that convert a somatic cell into an embryonic one. Starting from a list of 100 proto-oncogenes and embryonic stem (ES) cell associated transcripts, or ECATs, he and his co-author winnowed the list to 24, then 10, then 4; all, when combined, appeared to induce pluripotency in murine embryonic MEF cells. (Below four factors, the authors were unable to obtain seemingly viable colonies.) The four factors also successfully reprogrammed fibroblasts from adult mice, and the authors plan to continue their work in human fibroblasts. This all sounded very exciting, until Yamanaka concluded his talk without naming the four seemingly crucial factors for reprogramming a somatic cell. A series of probing questions from the audience revealed a few details -- most are likely present in the oocyte, and may change the length of the cell cycle. He admitted that one factor is Oct4, which plays an important role in the maintenance of pluripotency, and is a key actor in much of the research presented during the conference. "I'm not brave enough to tell the other three," Yamanaka concluded.

More reprogramming clues (maybe)

The Scientist ARCHIVES

Become a Member of

Meet the Author

Alison McCook

Related Research Resources

What Is the Amniotic Fluid Composed of?

Research Resources

Podcasts

Webinars

Videos

Infographics

eBooks

Redefining Immunology Through Advanced Technologies

Ensuring Regulatory Compliance in AAV Manufacturing with Analytical Ultracentrifugation

Skip the Wait for Protein Stability Data with Aunty

An Automated DNA-to-Data Framework for Production-Scale Sequencing

Products

Product News

Nuclera eProtein Discovery System installed at leading Universities in Taiwan

BRANDTECH Scientific Introduces the Transferpette® pro Micropipette: A New Twist on Comfort and Control

Biotium Launches GlycoLiner™ Cell Surface Glycoprotein Labeling Kits for Rapid and Selective Cell Surface Imaging

Thermo Scientific X and S Series General Purpose Centrifuges