Epigenetic Regulation of Cellular Differentiation

Dear Colleagues,

Cell differentiation is a process through which newly formed cells acquire specific features required for the precise functions that they are to fulfill in the organism. The most spectacular example of the differentiation process is the transformation of a zygote into a mature organism with multiple specialized tissues. In an adult organism, the process of cellular differentiation is active, albeit within a somewhat different range, in all tissues, which are constantly renewed thanks to the proliferative capacity of tissue stem cells. The stem cell progeny, newly derived undifferentiated cells, undergo differentiation along a tissue-specific lineage.

Upon differentiation, cells alter not only their size, shape, motile/adhesive properties, etc., but also metabolic and other biochemical characteristics. All these changes are possible due to orchestrated and time-coordinated expression, or silencing, of multiple genes. The involvement of epigenetic factors, such as DNA methylation, histone modifications or micro RNAs, in the regulation of genes involved in cell differentiation is a recognized fact; however, what we still need to know is how the epigenetic changes accompanying cellular differentiation are tailored to execute a gene expression program appropriate for each cell/tissue type.

The aim of this Topical Collection is to bring together a set of reviews and research articles on the role of epigenetic regulation in cell differentiation in vitro and in vivo.

Prof. Dr. Wiesława Leśniak
Collection Editor

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