Pluripotent stem cells can be derived from embryos or induced from adult cells by reprogramming.
They are unique among stem cells in that they can give rise to all cell types of the body…

Cells differentiate and progress through development guided by a dynamic chromatin
landscape that mediates gene expression programmes. During development, mammalian cells …

The laboratory mouse shares the majority of its protein-coding genes with humans, making
it the premier model organism in biomedical research, yet the two mammals differ in …

The transcriptional profiles of mouse embryonic, neural, and hematopoietic stem cells were
compared to define a genetic program for stem cells. A total of 216 genes are enriched in all …

DNA methylation is a heritable epigenetic modification involved in gene silencing, imprinting,
and the suppression of retrotransposons 1 . Global DNA demethylation occurs in the early …

The gastrointestinal tract develops from the embryonic gut, which is composed of an endodermally
derived epithelium surrounded by cells of mesodermal origin. Cell signaling between …

Cells can globally upregulate their transcriptome during specific transitions, a phenomenon
called hypertranscription. Evidence for hypertranscription dates back over 70 years but has …

Genetic analyses in Drosophila have demonstrated that the multipass membrane protein
Smoothened (Smo) is essential for all Hedgehog signaling. We show that Smo acts epistatic to …

Human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are remarkably similar to embryonic stem (ES)
cells, but recent reports indicate that there may be important differences between them. We …

An open chromatin largely devoid of heterochromatin is a hallmark of stem cells. It remains
unknown whether an open chromatin is necessary for the differentiation potential of stem cells…