Bistable cell fate specification as a result of stochastic fluctuations and collective spatial cell behaviour.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In culture, isogenic mammalian cells typically display enduring phenotypic heterogeneity that arises from fluctuations of gene expression and other intracellular processes. This diversity is not just simple noise but has biological relevance by generating plasticity. Noise driven plasticity was suggested to be a stem cell-specific feature.

Results

Here we show that the phenotypes of proliferating tissue progenitor cells such as primary mononuclear muscle cells can also spontaneously fluctuate between different states characterized by the either high or low expression of the muscle-specific cell surface molecule CD56 and by the corresponding high or low capacity to form myotubes. Although this capacity is a cell-intrinsic property, the cells switch their phenotype

SUBMITTER: Stockholm D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3010982 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature