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A Balanced Network: Transcriptional Regulation in Pluripotent Stem Cells

Lingyi Chen and Li-Feng Zhang

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) hold great promise for regenerative medicine. It has been an active research field to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the pluripotency of ESCs. Self-renewal of ESCs relies on maintaining the unique transcriptional profile of ESCs, while differentiation of ESCs requires a flexible transcriptional profile so that it can be altered in different types of cells. Therefore, transcriptional regulation plays important roles in pluripotency. In this review, we summarize recent discoveries on how transcriptional regulation contributes to pluripotency maintenance in ESCs. We emphasize the functions of transcription factors in pluripotency maintenance, as well as in X chromosome inactivation and somatic cell reprogramming.