Totipotency or plenipotency: rethinking stem cell bipotentiality.

ABSTRACT: The term 'totipotency' has often been misapplied in stem cell research to describe cells with embryonic and extraembryonic bipotentiality, despite a lack of evidence that they can generate an entire organism from a single cell. Additionally, no specific term currently distinguishes bipotential stem cells from pluripotent cells, which contribute poorly to extraembryonic tissues. This review examines the developmental continuum from totipotency to pluripotency in early embryos and revisits the previously proposed concept of plenipotency in preimplantation development. We evaluate emerging stem cell models that exhibit bipotentiality but have lost the ability to autonomously initiate and sustain the sequential fate decisions necessary to develop into a complete organism. Unlike totipotent emb

SUBMITTER: Wen D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12279028 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature