pluripotency

Reprogramming of somatic cells to in duced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) requires profound alterations in the epigenetic landscape. During repro-gramming, a change in chromatin structure resets the gene expression and stabilises self-renewal. Repro-gramming is a highly inefficient pro-cess, in part due to multiple epigene-tic barriers. Although many epigenetic factors have already been shown to affect self-renewal and pluripotency in embryonic stem cells (ESCs), only a few of them have been examined in the context of dedifferentiation. In order to improve current protocols of iPSCs generation, it is essential to identify epigenetic drivers and block-ages of somatic cell reprogramming. Key words: induced pluripotent stem cells, epigenetics, chromatin modifica-tions, DNA methylation