miRNAs involved in the generation, maintenance, and differentiation of pluripotent cells.

With the groundbreaking work of Takahashi and Yamanaka, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have taken the stage of international stem cell research as a novel source of pluripotent cells and an alternative to embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Apart from their enormous potential as a starting source for the generation of patient-specific cell therapy products, iPSCs also highlight the power of artificially modulating transcriptional networks to induce dramatic changes of cell specification. Since small non-coding RNAs play important roles in the modulation and fine-tuning of transcriptional networks, microRNAs also exhibit important functions in directing cell fate decisions. In this review, we will discuss the role of microRNAs in pluripotent stem cells and their impact on the induction of pluripotency during reprogramming of somatic cells.