Assist. Prof. Yosuke Tamada Graduate studens are welcome to join.

Both land plants and metazoa have the capacity to reprogram differentiated cells to stem cells. Chen Li, a Chinese graduate student supported by MEXT and co-workers showed that the moss Physcomitrella patens Cold-Shock Domain Protein 1 (PpCSP1) regulates reprogramming of differentiated leaf cells to chloronema apical stem cells and shares conserved domains with the induced pluripotent stem cell factor Lin28 in mammals (Li et al. 2017). PpCSP1 accumulates in the reprogramming cells and is maintained throughout the reprogramming process and in the resultant stem cells. Expression of PpCSP1 is negatively regulated by its 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR). Removal of the 3'-UTR stabilizes PpCSP1 transcripts, results in accumulation of PpCSP1 protein and enhances reprogramming. A quadruple deletion mutant of PpCSP1 and three closely related PpCSP genes exhibits attenuated reprogramming indicating that the PpCSP genes function redundantly in cellular reprogramming. Taken together, these data demonstrated a positive role of PpCSP1 in reprogramming, which is similar to the function of mammalian Lin28.

1. Function of STEMIN, whose induction changes differentiated cells to stem cells
2. Epigenetic regulation during stem cell formation
3. Role of auxin in stem cell formation
4. Common factor for stem cell formation between animals and plants
5. A factor to connect light and wounding signals in stem cell formation
6. A role of histone chaperon HIRA in stem cell formation
7. Role of ING in stem cell formation
8. Cell cycle reentry from the late S or G2 phase
9. Role of epigenetic regulation in stem cell formation