title: Cultural relativism: maintenance of genomic imprints in pluripotent stem cell culture systems.
abstract: Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) in culture have become a widely used model for studying events occurring during mammalian development; they also present an exciting avenue for therapeutics. However, compared to their in vivo counterparts, cultured PSC derivatives have unique properties, and it is well established that their epigenome is sensitive to medium composition. Here we review the specific effects on genomic imprints in various PSC types and culture systems. Imprinted gene regulation is developmentally important, and imprinting defects have been associated with several human diseases. Therefore, imprint abnormalities in PSCs may have considerable consequences for downstream applications.
authors.affiliation: INSERM U934/CNRS UMR3215, Institut Curie, 75005 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Maxim Vc
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Greenberg
authors.affiliation: INSERM U934/CNRS UMR3215, Institut Curie, 75005 Paris, France. Electronic address: Deborah.Bourchis@curie.fr.
authors.forename: Déborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bourc'his
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D018392:Genomic Imprinting; D006801:Humans; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism*