Pluripotency Deconstructed

• Published in: Development, growth & differentiation Vol. 60; no. 1; pp. 44 - 52
• Main Authors: Kinoshita, Masaki, Smith, Austin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japan Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.01.2018
• Subjects: Capacitation; Cell culture; cell state transition; Developmental stages; embryonic stem cells; Enhancers; epiblast; Pluripotency; Stem cell transplantation; Stem cells; pluripotency; embryonic stem cells; cell state transition; epiblast
• ISSN: 0012-1592; 1440-169X
• DOI: 10.1111/dgd.12419

Pluripotency denotes the flexible capacity of single cells to give rise to all somatic lineages and typically also the germline. Mouse ES cells and post‐implantation epiblast‐derived stem cells (EpiSC) are widely used pluripotent cell culture systems. These two in vitro stem cell types have divergent characteristics. They are considered as representative of distinct developmental stages, distinguished by using the terms “naïve” and “primed”. A binary description is an over‐simplification, however. Here, we discuss an intermediate stage of pluripotency that we term “formative”. Formative pluripotency features a gene regulatory network switch from the naïve state and comprises capacitation of enhancers, signaling pathways and epigenetic machinery in order to install competence for lineage specification. Currently, pluripotent states are categorized by two terms, “naïve” and “primed”. Formative pluripotency is an intermediate transitional phase which is important for the capacitation of naive cells to respond to differentiation signals.