Pluripotent stem cells can be made from skin cells by activating the cell’s own genes, according to a new experiment conducted by scientists. There are several types of cells in our bodies and each of them consists of their own function. This study has already published in the journal Nature Communications.
This is discovered by Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka in 2012. They found in research that cells after conversion have unique qualities of early embryos, inappropriately named induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC). This method is known as reprogramming.
Before this invention, scientists artificially injected the critical genes for cell conversion into skin cells where they found them completely inactive. This process is also dubbed Yamanaka factors.
For the first time skin cells have been converted into pluripotent stem cells by scientists at the University of Helsinki in Finland and King’s College London in UK. The conversion is done by inducing the cell’s own genes.
Gene editing technology, known as CRISPRa, is used to induce genes.
The method utilizes a blunted version of the Cas9 ‘gene scissors’ that does not cut DNA and can, therefore, be used to activate gene expression without mutating the genome.
“CRISPR/Cas9 can be used to activate genes. This is an attractive possibility for cellular reprogramming because multiple genes can be targeted at the same time,” said Timo Otonkoski, a professor at the University of Helsinki.
As per Otonkoski, the conducted study shows that a CRISPR activator system can be built that permits powerful reprogramming of iPSC.
This discovery may help develop many other reprogramming processes by converting genetic elements properties of the objective cell type that needs to be changed into stem cell
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/new-method-to-turn-skin-cells-into-pluripotent-stem-cells/articleshow/64886235.cms