Waddington's valleys and Captain Cook's islands

Michael H Sieweke

doi:10.1016/j.stem.2014.12.009

Waddington's valleys and Captain Cook's islands

Cell Stem Cell. 2015 Jan 8;16(1):7-8. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2014.12.009.

Author

Michael H Sieweke¹

Affiliation

¹ Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy (CIML), Aix-Marseille Université UM2, Campus de Luminy, Case 906, 13288 Marseille Cedex 09, France; Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), U1104, Marseille, France; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), UMR7280, Marseille, France; Max-Delbrück-Centrum für Molekulare Medizin (MDC), Robert-Rössle-Strasse 10, 13125 Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 25575076
DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2014.12.009

Abstract

Somatic reprogramming has relied heavily on theoretical models that view differentiation in terms of developmental branch point decisions. Recent studies in Cell now reveal a dominant role of the microenvironment in shaping epigenetic identity of macrophages, thus providing support for alternative models of cell fate acquisition.