Virtual karyotyping reveals greater chromosomal stability in neural cells derived by transdifferentiation than those from stem cells.

Neural cells can be derived either from pluripotent or adult stem cells via differentiation or by transdifferentiation from other cell types with the aid of tissue regulators. We compared the chromosomal stability of over 500 neural cell samples from human and mouse with virtual karyotyping (e-karyotyping). We detected notable genomic instability in cells derived from pluripotent or adult stem cells, but surprisingly, transdifferentiated cells seemed more chromosomally stable, except if they were reprogrammed using pluripotency factors.