Cell cycle speed is key to making aging cells young again

Fri, 2014-03-07 09:01

Researchers identified a major obstacle to converting cells back to their youthful state -- the speed of the cell cycle, or the time required for a cell to divide. When the cell cycle accelerates to a certain speed, the barriers that keep a cell's fate on one path diminish. In such a state, cells are easily persuaded to change their identity and become pluripotent, or capable of becoming multiple cell types.

Shangqin Guo, Xiaoyuan Zi, Vincent P. Schulz, Jijun Cheng, Mei Zhong, Sebastian H.J. Koochaki, Cynthia M. Megyola, Xinghua Pan, Kartoosh Heydari, Sherman M. Weissman et al.

Nonstochastic Reprogramming from a Privileged Somatic Cell State

. Cell, 2014 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2014.01.020

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