Source: University of Toronto
Date: September 15, 2011
Summary:
Toronto—Scientists at the University of Toronto have found a control switch that regulates stem cell “pluripotency,” the capacity of stem cells to develop into any type of cell in the human body. The discovery reveals that pluripotency is regulated by a single event in a process called alternative splicing.
Alternative splicing allows one gene to generate many different genetic messages and protein products. The researchers found that in genetic messages of a gene called FOXP1, the switch was active in embryonic stem cells but silent in “adult” cells—those that had become the specialized cells that comprise organs and perform functions.
The findings were published in the current online edition of the scientific journal Cell.
