Because of a lapse in government funding, the information on this website may not be up to date, transactions submitted via the website may not be processed, and the agency may not be able to respond to inquiries until appropriations are enacted.

The NIH Clinical Center (the research hospital of NIH) is open. For more details about its operating status, please visit cc.nih.gov.

Updates regarding government operating status and resumption of normal operations can be found at OPM.gov.

Exploring How Progenitor Cells Make Cell Fate Decisions

Illustration of the HIV replication cycle within one host cell. HIV fuses with the host cell, and the viral genome and proteins enter. Eventually, viral DNA is created and integrates into the host DNA. Thus, the host’s normal transcription machinery begins making new copies of viral RNA and HIV proteins, which move to the surface of the cell, where mature infectious virus forms and buds off.

The epiblast layer is labelled red, and the primitive endoderm is blue.
Credit: Rocha Lab, NICHD

During embryonic development, a wide variety of cells, tissues, and organs originate from a handful of progenitor cells. These progenitor cells undergo precise programming to become a specific cell type—a process known as a cell fate or lineage decision. Before a progenitor cell commits to a specific fate or lineage, the cell is considered plastic, meaning it still has the potential to become more than one type of cell.

While much is known about early embryonic development, scientists do not have precise information on how cells maintain their plasticity, which can be lost quickly to give rise to new cell-types. For example, progenitor cells in the early mouse embryo, as early as three days after conception, express transcription factors that predispose them to divergent cell fates later in development—NANOG leads to epiblast cells whereas GATA6 induces primitive endoderm cells. A few hours after this co-expression progenitor cell state, cells decide to restrict their expression to either NANOG or GATA6 by a yet unknown process.

Researchers from the Rocha Lab conducted a series of experiments using mouse embryos to determine how plasticity is maintained in the progenitor state but also rapidly lost. They found that NANOG and GATA6 co-bind the same DNA regulatory elements as a means to maintain plasticity; the dual binding positions a cell to adopt either fate. The co-bound state is quickly followed by eviction and repression of epiblast transcription factors (i.e., NANOG) and a quick remodeling that establishes the primitive endoderm fate through GATA6. Overall, this work offers a new model for understanding early embryonic cell fate decisions.

Learn more about the Genetics and Epigenetics of Development Affinity Group:
https://www.nichd.nih.gov/about/org/dir/affinity-groups/GED.

top of page BACK TO TOP