Epigenetic Basis for the Differentiation Potential of Mesenchymal and Embryonic Stem Cells.

ABSTRACT: SUMMARY: Stem cells have the ability to self-renew, and give rise to one or more differentiated cell types. Embryonic stem cells can differentiate into all cell types of the body and have unlimited self-renewal capacity. Somatic stem cells are found in many adult tissues. They have an extensive but finite lifespan and can differentiate into a more restricted range of cell types. Increasing evidence indicates that the multilineage differentiation ability of stem cells is defined by the potential for expression of developmentally regulated transcription factors and of lineage specification genes. Gene expression, or as emphasized here, the potential for gene expression, is largely controlled by epigenetic modifications of DNA (DNA methylation) and chromatin (such as post-translational histon

SUBMITTER: Collas P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3083288 | biostudies-literature | 2008

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature