Reprogramming of mouse, rat, pig, and human fibroblasts into iPS cells.

The induction of pluripotency in somatic cells by transcription-factor overexpression has been widely regarded as one of the major breakthroughs in stem cell biology within this decade. The generation of these induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) has enabled investigators to develop in vitro disease models for biological discovery and drug screening, and in the future, patient-specific therapy for tissue or organ regeneration. While new technologies for reprogramming are continually being discovered, the availability of iPSCs from different species is also increasing rapidly. Comparison of iPSCs across species may provide new insights into key aspects of pluripotency and early embryonic development. iPSCs from large animals may enable the generation of genetically modified large animal models or potentially transplantable donor tissues or organs. This unit describes the procedure for the generation of iPSCs from mouse, rat, pig and human fibroblasts.