title: De novo reestablishment of gap junctional intercellular communications during reprogramming to pluripotency and differentiation.
abstract: Gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) has been described in embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and various somatic cells. GJIC has been implicated in the regulation of cell proliferation, self-renewal, and differentiation. Recently, a new type of pluripotent stem cells was generated by direct reprogramming of somatic cells. Here, for the first time, we show that during reprogramming events GJIC is re-established upon reaching complete reprogramming. The opposite process of cell differentiation from the pluripotent state leads to the disruption of GJIC between pluripotent and differentiated cell subsets. However, GJIC is subsequently re-established de novo within each differentiated cell type in vitro, forming communication compartments within a histotype. Our results provide the important evidence that reestablisment of functional gap junctions to the level similar to human ESCs is an additional physiological characteristic of somatic cell reprogramming to the pluripotent state and differentiation to the specific cell type.
authors.affiliation: Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Yulia Y
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Sharovskaya
authors.forename: Elena S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Philonenko
authors.forename: Sergei L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Kiselev
authors.forename: Maria A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Lagarkova
mesh_terms: D002450:Cell Communication; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D048430:Cell Shape; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003470:Culture Media; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000502:physiology; D017629:Gap Junctions / Q000502:physiology*; D061307:Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D057026:Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D016086:Lentivirus / Q000378:metabolism; D050814:Octamer Transcription Factor-3 / Q000378:metabolism; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D050814:Octamer Transcription Factor-3; C494173:POU5F1 protein, human