A natural reprogramming system

sea-maid submitted, created time 2 months 3 weeks (www.nature.com)

In fruit flies--and presumably other pupating insects--specialized cells revert to multipotency as the larva prepares to transform into an adult. We had thought that the differentiated larval cells simply died during this process, and many of them do, but it does seem that some can regain some pluripotency.

The way they figured this out is particularly vivid. By modifying the cells in the larvae's tracheae to glow green, researchers were able to track their destinations and daughter cells.

We already knew that some human cells were able to perform similar feats. The significance of this new discovery is the idea that fruit flies can now be used as a model to study this phenomenon.

Keywords: fruit flies drosophila animal model pluripotency differentiation stem cells reprogram