Pax3 functions at a nodal point in melanocyte stem cell differentiation

Deborah Lang, Min Min Lu, Li Huang, Kurt A. Engleka, Maozhen Zhang, Emily Y. Chu, Shari Lipner, Arthur Skoultchi, Sarah E. Millar and Jonathan A. Epstein ()
Additional contact information
Deborah Lang: University of Pennsylvania
Min Min Lu: University of Pennsylvania
Li Huang: University of Pennsylvania
Kurt A. Engleka: University of Pennsylvania
Maozhen Zhang: University of Pennsylvania
Emily Y. Chu: University of Pennsylvania
Shari Lipner: Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Arthur Skoultchi: Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Sarah E. Millar: University of Pennsylvania
Jonathan A. Epstein: University of Pennsylvania

Nature, 2005, vol. 433, issue 7028, 884-887

Abstract: Stem cells waiting for the off Adult stem cells have been identified in a large number of organs. They are not ‘totipotent’, but are held in an undifferentiated state that, once released, leads to a limited number of cell fates. The nature of the molecular program maintaining this balance has now been investigated in adult melanocyte cells, revealing Pax3 transcription factor as part of a regulatory circuit for embryonic neural crest development and adult melanocyte stem cell function. It commits a cell to its fate as a melanocyte by inducing another transcription factor, Mitf; at the same time, by competing with Mitf for binding sites, it blocks differentiation of the stem cell. A cell primed in this way can respond rapidly to external stimuli by adopting the route to differentiation. An understanding of this mechanism brings the prospect of harnessing stem cells for tissue regeneration a step closer.

Date: 2005
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature03292 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:433:y:2005:i:7028:d:10.1038_nature03292

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature03292

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().