cell reprogramming

Question 1

what are some examples of regeneration occurring?

Answer 1

planaria: have stem cells that can regenerate entire body

salamanders (and more): can regenerate limbs

Question 2

Why can embryonic stem cells be altered easier?

Answer 2

adult stem cells are stuck in specialized state but embryonic stem cells are pluripotent and can be altered back into a blastocyst.

Question 3

what do embryonic stem cells contain that make them different?

Answer 3

ES cells have lots of telomerase (avoid senescence) and are maintained by master gene regulator proteins like Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and Myc (called OSKM factors)

Question 4

how to create iPS cells?

Answer 4

induced pluripotent cells can be created by reprogramming with OSKM factors being expressed. iPS cells will continually divide and will form a chimeric animal if incorporated in blastocyst just like ES cells

Question 5

what can iPS be used for?

Answer 5

artificially generated tissue for repair (all tissues)
iPS comes from patient so no issues of rejection
large cultures can be made to investigate diseases and drugs

Question 6

what is transdifferentiation?

Answer 6

cells go from one specialized type to another without going back to iPS in between.