title: Hallmarks of pluripotency.
abstract: Stem cells self-renew and generate specialized progeny through differentiation, but vary in the range of cells and tissues they generate, a property called developmental potency. Pluripotent stem cells produce all cells of an organism, while multipotent or unipotent stem cells regenerate only specific lineages or tissues. Defining stem-cell potency relies upon functional assays and diagnostic transcriptional, epigenetic and metabolic states. Here we describe functional and molecular hallmarks of pluripotent stem cells, propose a checklist for their evaluation, and illustrate how forensic genomics can validate their provenance.
authors.affiliation: Stem Cell Transplantation Program, Division of Pediatric Hematology Oncology, Children's Hospital Boston, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.|Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.|Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Los Angeles
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ferrari
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.|School of Mathematical Sciences and Center for Statistical Science, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Ruibin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Xi
authors.affiliation: Stem Cell Transplantation Program, Division of Pediatric Hematology Oncology, Children's Hospital Boston, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.|Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.|Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujiwara
authors.affiliation: Stem Cell Unit, Department of Genetics, Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel.
authors.forename: Nissim
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Benvenisty
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences and Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Hongkui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.|Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.|Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.|Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Center for Regenerative Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA.
authors.forename: Konrad
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hochedlinger
authors.affiliation: Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA.
authors.forename: Rudolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jaenisch
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Soohyun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council Clinical Sciences Centre, Imperial College London, London W12 0NN, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Harry G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Leitch
authors.affiliation: Stem Cell Transplantation Program, Division of Pediatric Hematology Oncology, Children's Hospital Boston, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.|Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.|Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
authors.forename: M William
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Lensch
authors.affiliation: Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Ernesto
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lujan
authors.affiliation: South China Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510530, China.
authors.forename: Duanqing
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pei
authors.affiliation: The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario ON M5G 0A4, Canada.
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rossant
authors.affiliation: Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Marius
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wernig
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Stem Cell Transplantation Program, Division of Pediatric Hematology Oncology, Children's Hospital Boston, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.|Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.|Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
authors.forename: George Q
authors.initials: GQ
authors.lastname: Daley
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D023281:Genomics; D006801:Humans; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*