Stem Cell Factors in Plants: Chromatin Connections

The progression of pluripotent stem cells to differentiated cell lineages requires major shifts in cell differentiation programs. In both mammals and higher plants, this process appears to be controlled by a dedicated set of transcription factors, many of which are kingdom specific. These divergent transcription factors appear to operate, however, together with a shared suite of factors that affect the chromatin state. It is of major importance to investigate whether such shared global control mechanisms indicate a common mechanistic basis for preservation of the stem cell state, initiation of differentiation programs, and coordination of cell state transitions.