“Direct lineage reprogramming towards the neural lineage”. Marius Wernig

Marius Wernig is the scientist who first directly converted fibroblast into Induced Neurons (iN) with the ectopic expression of only three factors. In this talk, he argumented that this process seems to be more fast and efficient than the canonical reprogramming to pluripotency. By investigating the functional role of the transcription factors involved at single cell resolution, he founds that  there are discrepancy on the binding of the key reprogramming players to the target genes. Indeed, while Ascl1, the key player in iN formation, appears to bind its physiological target through the interaction with nucleosomal DNA, the main “reprogram to pluripotency” factors as Oct4 and Sox2 bind ectopic genomic regions that are typically not bound in ES cells. Thus, the dynamic and specificity of the interaction of the key factors with chromatin determine the efficiency of the reprogramming process.