title: Rethinking differentiation: stem cells, regeneration, and plasticity.
abstract: Cell differentiation is an essential process for the development, growth, reproduction, and longevity of all multicellular organisms, and its regulation has been the focus of intense investigation for the past four decades. The study of natural and induced stem cells has ushered an age of re-examination of what it means to be a stem or a differentiated cell. Past and recent discoveries in plants and animals, as well as novel experimental manipulations, are beginning to erode many of these established concepts and are forcing a re-evaluation of the experimental systems and paradigms presently being used to explore these and other biological process.
authors.affiliation: Stowers Institute for Medical Research and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA. Electronic address: asa@stowers.org.
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sánchez Alvarado
authors.affiliation: Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan; Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA. Electronic address: yamanaka@cira.kyoto-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Shinya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamanaka
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D006801:Humans; D059828:Plant Cells / Q000502:physiology; D010944:Plants / Q000196:embryology; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology; D012038:Regeneration; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology