Keeping your options open: insights from Dppa2/4 into how epigenetic priming factors promote cell plasticity

The concept of cellular plasticity is particularly apt in early embryonic development, where there is a tug-of-war between the stability and flexibility of cell identity. This balance is controlled in part through epigenetic mechanisms. Epigenetic plasticity dictates how malleable cells are to change by adjusting the potential to initiate new transcriptional programmes. The higher the plasticity of a cell, the more readily it can adapt and change its identity in response to external stimuli such as differentiation cues. Epigenetic plasticity is regulated in part through the action of epigenetic priming factors which establish this permissive epigenetic landscape at genomic regulatory elements to enable future transcriptional changes. Recent studies on the DNA binding proteins Developmental Pluripotency Associated 2 and 4 (Dppa2/4) support their roles as epigenetic priming factors in facilitating cell fate transitions. Here, using Dppa2/4 as a case study, the concept of epigenetic plasticity and molecular mechanism of epigenetic priming factors will be explored. Understanding how epigenetic priming factors function is key not only to improve our understanding of the tight control of development, but also to give insights into how this goes awry in diseases of cell identity, such as cancer.