ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the relationship of genetic and epigenetic modifications with somatic reprogramming and differentiation. It discusses future directions in induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) technology. In the course of reprogramming to the iPSC, somatic cells undergo multiple transcriptional and epigenetic changes. Although the efficiency of iPSC generation was reported to be initially extremely low many efforts have succeeded in the improvement of iPSC reprogramming technique by introducing or depleting epigenetic modulators. The iPSC reprogramming resets deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) methylation pattern of original somatic cells to that of pluripotent state. The major discrimination of somatic DNA methylation pattern and gain of pluripotent pattern occurs at the late mature stage of iPSC reprogramming. Eukaryotic genomic DNA wraps around histone octamers and comprises higher-order structures of chromatins. N-terminal tail domain of histones is subject to posttranslational modification, such as methylation and acetylation.
