Understanding how self-renewal and pluripotency — two key characteristics of stem cells — are controlled may allow generation of stem cell lines from somatic tissues, thus avoiding the ethically contentious need to derive them from embryos. A step forward in this understanding was recently taken by two teams, who exploited recombinant retroviruses in gain-and-loss of function experiments to characterize candidate transcription factors with the potential to regulate 'stemness'.
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Bilodeau, M., Sauvageau, G. Uncovering stemness. Nat Cell Biol 8, 1048–1049 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb1006-1048
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb1006-1048
