ArticleCell reports2012
Removal of Polycomb repressive complex 2 makes C. elegans germ cells susceptible to direct conversion into specific somatic cell types.
Article in Cell reports, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 72 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
72 citing papers in PubMed, 121 citations in OpenAlex.
- TRIM37 interacts with TRIM28 to maintain primordial germ cell identity during migration.Cell research · 2026Article
- Depletion of the isocitrate dehydrogenase 3 subunit IDHA-1 licenses germ cell-to-neuron direct reprogramming.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The SynMuvA lin-15A licenses natural transdifferentiation by antagonizing identity safeguarding mechanisms.PLoS genetics · 2026Article
- Scavenger Cells Failure to Maintain Systemic RNA Homeostasis Causes Epigenetically Inherited Germline Tumors.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Epigenetic silencing is a barrier to editing the X chromosome using the SEC-based CRISPR/Cas9 knock-in protocol inmicroPublication biology · 2026Article
- Widespread association of Polycomb complex-deposited histone H2A monoubiquitylation with enhancers and neuronal gene regulation.Science advances · 2025Article
- Neurogenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans.Genetics · 2024Review
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- Identifying Molecular Roadblocks for Transcription Factor-Induced Cellular Reprogramming In Vivo by UsingJournal of developmental biology · 2023Review
- Epigenetic dynamics during germline development: insights from Drosophila and C. elegans.Current opinion in genetics & development · 2023Review
- Sperm-inherited H3K27me3 epialleles are transmitted transgenerationally inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
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- Structural and functional specificity of H3K36 methylation.Epigenetics & chromatin · 2022Review
- The zinc-finger transcription factor LSL-1 is a major regulator of the germline transcriptional program in Caenorhabditis elegans.Genetics · 2022Article
- Molding immortality from a plastic germline.Current opinion in cell biology · 2021Review
- Coordinated maintenance of H3K36/K27 methylation by histone demethylases preserves germ cell identity and immortality.Cell reports · 2021Article
- Discrete cis-acting element regulates developmentally timed gene-lamina relocation and neural progenitor competence in vivo.Developmental cell · 2021Article
- MyoD induces ARTD1 and nucleoplasmic poly-ADP-ribosylation during fibroblast to myoblast transdifferentiation.iScience · 2021Article
12 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
How specific cell types can be directly converted into other distinct cell types is a matter of intense investigation with wide-ranging basic and biomedical implications. Here, we show that removal of the histone 3 lysine 27 (H3K27) methyltransferase Polycomb repressor complex 2 (PRC2) permits ectopically expressed, neuron-type-specific transcription factors ("terminal selectors") to convert Caenorhabditis elegans germ cells directly into specific neuron types. Terminal-selector-induced germ-cell-to-neuron conversion can be observed not only upon genome-wide loss of H3K27 methylation in PRC2(-) animals but also upon genome-wide redistribution of H3K27 methylation patterns in animals that lack the H3K36 methyltransferase MES-4. Manipulation of the H3K27 methylation status not only permits conversion of germ cells into neurons but also permits hlh-1/MyoD-dependent conversion of germ cells into muscle cells, indicating that PRC2 protects the germline from the aberrant execution of multiple distinct somatic differentiation programs. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that the normally multistep process of development from a germ cell via a zygote to a terminally differentiated somatic cell type can be short-cut by providing an appropriate terminal selector transcription factor and manipulating histone methylation patterns.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.