Epigenetic mark guides stem cells toward their destiny

(PhysOrg.com) -- Not all stem cells are completely blank slates. Some, known as adult stem cells, have already partially embraced their fates and are capable of becoming only cells of a particular type of tissue. So how do these tissue-specific stem cells restrict their fate? In research to appear in the March 20 issue of Cell, scientists at Rockefeller University have uncovered a gene-control mechanism that guides the development and differentiation of epidermal skin stem cells in mouse embryos and shown that this mechanism tempers the development of the skin barrier.

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<p><a href="http://www.physorg.com/news156709702.html">Epigenetic mark guides stem cells toward their destiny</a></p> <p>(PhysOrg.com) -- Not all stem cells are completely blank slates. Some, known as adult stem cells, have already partially embraced their fates and are capable of becoming only cells of a particular type of tissue. So how do these tissue-specific stem cells restrict their fate? In research to appear in the March 20 issue of Cell, scientists at Rockefeller University have uncovered a gene-control mechanism that guides the development and differentiation of epidermal skin stem cells in mouse embryos and shown that this mechanism tempers the development of the skin barrier.</p>